A Haunted House

A few weeks ago Nana came and spent the weekend with us while Dad, Gabriel and Papa went camping.  While the other guys were off for their camping experience, Nana made the weekend a lot of fun for us. 

 

In addition to making us yummy food, we sent shopping, to the grocery store and one of the best parts (especially if you ask Michael),was building a scary haunted house.

 

Michael had a blast putting together the pieces and putting the stickers where they were suppose to go.  And when we got the glue gun out, the interest in building the house went up ten fold. 

 

In the end, after they got it all put together they admired their work and celebrated.  Michael is very proud of what he and Nana created, and proud they should be.  I think this will be an activity Michael remembers for a long time, a special activity he did with Nana.

 

Oh and while we were out running errands, Nana got Michael a package of gooey eyeballs, which of course Michael tried sticking to the middle of his head, so it appeared he had a third eye ball.  I'll let you see how well it stuck!

And the finished product!

Until next time,
Angie

8 months pt 2

Isabelle is officially 8 months, well actually by the time I finish writing this she’ll probably be closer to 9 months. She is now 30.5 inches long and weighs 15 lbs 12 oz.   In this month I’ve seen her grow and change each and every day.  I feel like part of that is because in my mind, we’ve moved into a whole new stage of baby.  Our baby MOVES, like physically moves from place to place.  Not just hand motions or feet kicking anymore, we are in a whole new world.  One moment I look and she’s in one place and the next moment I look and she’s all the way across the floor off of the carpet and onto the tile (which leads me to another blog topic:  Our house has way too much tile for a baby but I’ll save that rant for later). 

It’s crazy how fast she can move.  A few weeks ago, when she first turned 8 months, we commented that she had truly mastered the army crawl, you know, the GI Jane crawl.  Full on arm scoot, chest rub and body drag crawl, the one Demi Moore showed off in that classic “woman power” movie.  Belle had it down, it didn’t matter what was in her way, she’d get around it or over it somehow.  We tested her one night with pillows laid across the floor and it wasn’t more than a few minutes before she had surveyed the room, determined there was no easy route and full force went up, (pulling herself) and over the pillow to her target  “Jack” on the other side.

See Jack is a great motivator and where ever he is, she wants to be.  It crazy, the love (Isabelle)-love-to-taunt (Jack) relationship those two share.  For the last 7 months Jack has been able to maintain a close but safe distance from her, where he was close enough to watch over and protect, but still far enough away to escape the claws of love that she likes to expose him to.  Jack’s world has been turned upside down because now there is no safe distance.  His only saving grace is that he can still move faster than her, at least for now.  It is funny though because in some ways, I think Jack likes it.  It means, our poor doggie actually gets some attention.  In watching him, I’ve noticed that he likes to be the center of her attention.  As she’s seated on the floor playing with her toys, Jack often decides to wake from his slumber and casually jaunt down near her, walking right in front of her, to get her attention.  As if to say, “I’m here, come and get me!!!!”  he flirts with her and guaranteed, Miss Isabelle always take the bait. 

In the last week and a half we’ve seen Isabelle’s army crawl transform into a one leg hurdle move, the other leg drag crawl, to a full on, rocking back and forth to gain confidence crawl.  And finally we've now witnessed the real deal. She actually crawls, usually started with a few rocking motions back and forth and then followed by one leg move, one arm move, opposite leg move, opposite arm move.  The boys are thrilled with excitement that she's crawling often announcing the moment she starts to move from a sitting motion, "MOM, SHE'S CRAWLING, COME FAST!"  as I race to see her, I many times see her still sitting.  She smiles, screams as if to say "psych" and goes back to playing.  It has truly been fun watching her learn this new skill.

The other thing Isabelle continues to impress us with, is her strong desire to stand and walk.  No more can we trust that she'll sit and play.  Constant eyes have to be on her because we've seen her crawl to the couch and with all her strength pull herself up from a sitting position to standing.  Truly amazing that our little baby can already be doing these things.  The other thing she has grown to love is her walker.  Although I know putting babies in a walker these days comes with mixed reviews, but our Belle LOVES it.  And why wouldn't she? In her "means of transportation" she can move 5 times faster than normal and charge at Jack with all her might.  It is so funny to see her spot Jack across the house, curled up in a corner of the tile sleeping quietly.  The moment her eyes see him, she becomes a rocket shooting toward a target.  With the first sound of the walker moving, Jack's ears pop up, and one eye opens to access just how much time he has.  Seconds later we hear Isabelle shriek with excitement and pure joy as Jack's tags clang together in his race to a safe place.  It's the classic game of cat and mouse chase.  Isabelle loves it; Jack not-so-much.

Isabelle continues to be the perfect addition and completion to our family.  When I think about how fast she has grown the past 8 months I can't believe how quickly it has gone by.  Then I think about all the days of praying that we'd get to keep her forever and counting down each milestone crossed in our journey to adopt her and make her forever a member of our lives.  When I think about that, the past 8 months feel like several years.  With 16 days until our finalization, I can't help but start to breath a sigh of relief.  Our dream is coming true again.  I count down the days with so much to look forward to.  I can't wait to hear her name Isabelle Grace Haskovec being announced in the court room, to the judge stating that Jarrett and I are her parents and to seeing the look on Gabriel and Michaels' faces when it all becomes official.  I'm sure I'll be overcome with so many emotions, of course the main one happiness, but also relief.  I can honestly say in the last 8 months I don't think I've ever let my guard down, always wondering and unfortunately worrying (I guess that's just my nature).  I'm ready to let that guard down and with that what ever emotions come along.  

I am so thankful for each one of our children, Gabriel, Michael and Isabelle.  I've truly been blessed.

Oh and one more thing I'm excited about.  Finally, finally, finally getting to share her picture with our blog family.  I've got so many saved up and ready to share.  There have been so many stories, so many updates, and so many cute pictures.  Watch out, Isabelle overload is just days away.

Until next time,

angie

Rainbow cake.

I'm addicted, I admit it.  I LOVE Pinterest.  My sister and a friend introduced me to it several months ago and I have to admit, I get lost in the site, and end up spending too many hours pinning cool things. Recently the boys and I decided to test out a Pinterest idea to see if they are actually as cool in "real life" as they are on the Internet. 

And I have to say for our first real pin test, we were very pleased.  We decided to make a rainbow cake.  Using a simple boxed cake, we mixed up the batter divided it up into smaller containers and added food coloring.  Just like Skittles and their commercial, when we were all finished, we had the colors of the rainbow.

 

Our starting dishes... never mind the very ripe banana and wine.  Those were ingredients for recipes to be made later.  Okay okay, maybe the wine was just for me to drink.

We started off pouring the bright pinkish/red batter in, followed be the deep orange.

And then came the yellow as each boy took turns getting to pour in the batter.

And at this point the boys were thrilled with how "cool" the cake was looking. 

It's starting to come together!

Admiring their work as we put the pan in the oven.

And of course the best part of any cooking is licking the pans out at the end.  Michael took no time in getting blue batter all over.

And Gabriel, knowing it would be a messy job, decided this was a time to lose the shirt. 

While the boys licked the bowls, the cake baked and about 20 minutes later viola, our rainbow cake was ready to enjoy. 

There are so many great ideas on Pinterest I'd love to try.  I hope we can continue doing more projects together in the future.  Not only did I enjoy it but the boys thought it was great too.
Until next time,
Angie

Holy Batman, Robin!

Holy Batman, Robin, how can it almost be the end of October?

That means Halloween is just around the corner!!!!!!

 

Okay so the truth is we've been dressing in costumes, celebrating Halloween traditions and eating candy since the middle of summer.  The boys (and maybe their mom too) like Halloween so much that for us, the party starts in August.  

This year, we decided to try to start teaching the boys about the value of a dollar and the truth about how much things cost.  This year, the boys had to save up the money they earned from their complement jar to purchase their costumes.  To give them an idea of how much money they were going to need, we made a trip to the local Party City store to get some ideas.  It has always been Michael's dream (since our first Halloween together) to be Batman.  Each year we've found another costume instead and although he deeply wished to be Batman, he went with the flow and settled for being a Power Ranger and Darth Vader.

 

During our visit to the party store the boys carefully reviewed all the options and together decided that they would be the dynamic duo of Batman and Robin.  As you can imagine, Michael was thrilled! and Gabriel was happy to.  They looked at the price for each of their costumes and added it up.  They knew they needed a lot of money. 

Over the course of a month they worked very hard helping mom with various chores and doing they best they could to accumulate as many compliments as they could.  In addition they became entrepreneurs and started a business of selling their pictures to family and friends as a way to supplement their small income.  I think they realized that only getting one penny per chore was not going to get them to their goal very quickly.  Jarrett and I were both proud of them for how hard they worked and for using their creativity to come up with their very first business.

 

Every few weeks they counted their money and finally after 5 weeks of saving, they finally had enough to get their costumes.  So off we went back to the store where we picked out the costumes.  We had counted out exactly how much they were going to need and as they placed their costumes on the counter to pay for them, they were filled with excitement and a tiny bit nervous that they were making their first purchase.  As the cashier told them how much it was, Gabriel quickly realized they didn't have enough money.  He looked at me with a panicked face and said, "Mom, I thought we had enough money?"  I said, "Gabriel you did have enough but there is tax on the total.  It's okay we'll pay for that."  And I gave him the extra few dollars he needed.

 

Walking out of the store, the boy's carrying their costumes and thrilled with what they had done, I was excited for them.  On the way home Gabriel realized their compliment jar was empty and that they would have to start all over.  He and Michael were talking about all the new chores they would have to do and how they would have to get new compliments in order to get the accessories (some bat-a-rang, or grappling hook, Bat gloves, etc) they wanted.   While they discussed the realization Gabriel had dropped on Michael, I filled up the car with gas.  Getting back into the car Gabriel said, "MOM - Did that gas cost you $57.00?"  I responded, "Yes Gabriel"  He said, "Oh my gosh mom, that is a lot of money, that is way more money than Michael and I had in our jar and we worked really hard doing lots of chores to get that money."   And in that comment I was happy with the plan Jarrett and I had come up with to try to teach the boys about money.  We sometimes feel we are constantly talking with them about taking care of their things, not wasting stuff and that if we break something, we don't just go out and buy a new thing.  In hearing Gabriel's realization that just a tank of gas costs way more than they had, it made me feel like our message of learning the value of a dollar is coming through.  I just hope they remember because by the time we'd gotten home, the compliment jar was tossed aside and the costumes were filled with warm bodies and racing around the house.  

The boys LOVE their costumes and have built many a bat caves, rescued helpless ladies and toss many a criminals into jail.  Its a regular comic book story, right in our own home...

 

Until next time,

Angie

Oh no...

The other day I happen to notice Isabelle had a hang nail starting to form. “Uh” (I gasped) and said, “Oh no, look she has a hang nail” to my sister Megan (who happened to be  in town visiting from Iowa) standing next to me.  Not realizing that the reaction to my discovery seemed a dire emergency to others, the next thing I noticed was Michael racing over to look at Isabelle’s owie.  He looked down at it, examined it thoroughly, looked back up to me with a seriously panicked looked on his face.  Still holding onto Isabelle and with a face about to burst into tears he said, “Oh no mom, is she going to die?”  And then he said, “Mom, we love her so much, will she be okay? I really hope so.” 

In that moment half of my heart melted because of his confession of love toward his sister, while the other half skipped a beat at how funny kids can be.  Immediately, before any tears were shed, I reassured him that a hang nail isn’t a big deal at all that she would most definitely be okay.  After explaining what a hang nail is, he said, “Mom, I’m sorry I said die, because I know it isn’t a nice word, but Mom I was scared for Isabelle.  I love her so much.”

Until next time,

Angie

It's just a car...

Yesterday we sold our car.  And as silly as it sounds, I actually felt very emotional about it.

As I drove our new (well, at least new to us) minivan, with all three kids in tow,  I followed behind Jarrett who was driving our Rendezvous for the last time. 

Staring at the back of the car and through the rear windshield, it was almost as if I was looking into a time tunnel into the past.  Memories flooded my mind and although we had only gone 12 miles, in that short amount of time, emotionally I relived all significant events from the past 7 years of our life.   

That was the first vehicle Jarrett and I purchased together after getting married.   It was the vehicle, loaded to the brim,  that my mom and I took as she helped us move from Iowa to Arizona.  It was the car Jarrett and I sobbed in as we drove home together in after learning he had cancer, the vehicle that made the weekly trips to Mayo Clinic including that special trip when we learned he had beaten the disease.  It was the car we drove to fertility clinics, adoption classes, and, it was the car that took us to that special day when we met our two wonderful boys.  I’ll never forget how it felt to buckle them into their car seats, climb into the passenger seat and look back to see two smiling faces.  It was the picture I dreamed about and finally got to live.   It was the vehicle that took us on family vacations, camping adventures, trips to the store, and to first days of school.  It was also the vehicle that took us to the hospital to meet and bring home our miracle baby girl.  So many important life events, all centered around one thing.  Unlike a home that says in one place, our car traveled with us through all the changes, the challenges and the cheers that our life has included in these past seven years.

In a matter of a few miles, a five minutes in an office and a signature, we said good bye.   We knew the days for the car were numbered, it needed repairs that cost more than it was worth.  We discussed what to do with it over and over.  For anyone who knows us, despite what it may seem when it comes to having children, we are really slow decision makers when it comes to most everything else.  In the end, we decided it was time to let it go.  As we left the house with it for the last time, I thought about taking a picture, you know, for old times’ sake.  But in the hustle of getting everyone ready and already being late, I told myself I didn’t need to.  What would we do with it anyway?  And although I didn’t take an actual picture, I can assure you the picture of that vehicle, or at least the back of the vehicle, I took over and over in my mind as we drove to the car lot.

Just like a book that starts, has a middle and an end, I feel we had the same thing with our vehicle.  Although it makes me sad to say good bye to that car, I realize it isn’t so much the metal, steel and parts that I’ll miss, it’s that everything our life has encompassed was encircled in that steel frame with 4 wheels.  Cleaning it out, we found pieces of our life…. The prayer card from my grandmother’s funeral, programs from the last Iowa Hawkeye football game we attended before moving here, parking passes from when I first started working at the University,  the magazine of the 2007 Phoenix’s Top Doctors (when we looked for the best oncologist in the valley),  41 cent stamps, directions to the best campgrounds in Arizona, and many things from the kids, Spiderman sunglasses we’ve been looking for for over a year, melted colors, kids travel cards, super hero action figurines, and school projects that didn’t make it into the house.    

The drive to the dealership seemed actually pretty quiet to me.  That was until I realized, I had tuned out the all of noise from the three little ones behind me.  It wasn’t until I heard Gabriel say, “MOM!!!, aren’t you listening to me?” that I snapped out of the moments of deep thought I was having.  “Yes,” I said to Gabriel, “I’m sorry what did you say?”  He responded, “Mom” pause, “I said I love you.”  And with that I realized, although I’m sad about saying good bye to the vehicle that has brought us so many wonderful memories of the past seven years to cherish; I’m currently driving the van that will bring us so many more memories to look forward to in the future. 

Until next time,

Angie

8 months and 1 month...

Today Isabelle turned 8 months old and although we are very excited to see her reach another milestone, tonight I admit that I'm more excited about another milestone.  What milestone you ask?  The milestone of what will happen in a month.  A month from tomorrow.  Yes, November 8, 2012.

It is a day I have been dreaming about, impatiently waiting for and praying to come.  Tonight I am very excited to share that on November 8, our dream of adopting Isabelle Grace will come true.  We have been waiting since the day we met her to make her ours forever and the journey to get here has felt like years instead of months and has been stressful to say the least. But if asked if I'd take the journey again, I'd immediately answer yes and go through it all over, as long as it meant she would be ours forever.

Man, I'm so excited for that day.  It is starting to becoming real and I'm finally letting myself picture what that courtroom will look like and what that day will mean.  I don't think I'll let my guard down completely until the judge says it is final, but with each passing day I let myself dream more and more about how it is really going to happen and how wonderful, how special, how amazing that moment will be.

With a month left before the judge officially declares that she is ours and only ours, I am thankful for all the joy, the love, the happiness and the memories that the past 8 months have given us. And while I celebrate inside and feel so blessed, there is another person I think of and gives thanks to.   I am thankful to Isabelle's birth mother, that she had the courage and the strength to go through heart-wrenching pain in giving up her daughter.  I pray that she has some peace in knowing the greatest blessing she has given to us.  I pray that God watches over her and gives her assurance in knowing that her daughter is safe, thriving, happy and SO deeply loved.

I have been given three wonderful blessings while two other mothers suffered great losses.  I will forever be eternally grateful for them giving me the gift of being a mom.

With only 31 days until our Isabelle Grace Haskovec is officially our daughter according to the law, I will be cherishing each moment, counting my blessings and celebrating in the journey that this life has given me. 


Until next time,
Angie