3rd Grade Field Trip

I joined Kaylen's 3rd grade field trip last week. It's the first time I've gone on one of her field trips, so it was a new experience for me. This trip was to the Science Center of Iowa, in downtown Des Moines. I was surprised by how many chaperones there were, and it worked out great. I was paired with another mom, and there were 4 kids in our group. We all had schedules for which section we were supposed to be in when, what time lunch was, etc. It was a very well-oiled machine! :)

We first went into the Lost Egypt exhibit. They had a camel to climb on, info on how they built the pyramids, and a few mummies and info about them, including the beliefs about the objects they were buried with and why. They also had a great big replica of the Rosetta stone. Kaylen and a friend on the camel:

Then we went upstairs for the hands-on section (lego car racing, paper rocket-building, Egg dropper, keystone-bridge building, etc. Got a cute photo of Kaylen and some friends setting up the keystone bridge:

It turned out to be a nice (even hot!) day, so the kids had lunch outside on the grassy lawn. Then we went back upstairs to explore the rest of the upstairs basically the reptile room. But this room also has a weather room for one of the local TV stations. Since it was 12:30-1, they weren't on the noon news, but they did the weather-now segment while Kaylen and her friends were there. They posted it online that afternoon, here. Kaylen's on the far right, kneeling in the front row, with a reddish shirt. Notice what she's doing when the camera comes back on them after the weather maps - goofball!

We finished off the trip with the entire 3rd grade in the star theater. They've been learning about the moon, stars, and planets in their science classes recently, so it was kind of neat hearing them in unison answering the SCI staff's questions as she presented. It was also neat seeing the diagrams of the moon and stars, planets, constellations, etc. At the end of the star presentation, they had a show on the screen that seemed like you were riding down a water slide. She warned us before she started us that if you start getting dizzy, to just close your eyes or look down. Yup, I couldn't handle it - started getting my motion-sick headache, so had to look down. Then all the kids started an "Again" chant, so had to do it again. Ahhhh... the kids all love it! :)

After the star theater, we helped the kids get lined up with their class, and back on the buses, and that was it. A fun time was had by all!

Perfect Entertainment!

For when we need some peace and quiet, and/or the kids are bored:

The TV, of course, was the top priority. The furniture (seating, anyway) is ordered, but the bean bags work perfectly for the kids!

Dance Photos

Well, we've survived dance photos - the first real test! Not much time to write today, but here are a few photos from the morning.

Hair & Make-up done, ready to head to the studio:

Both girls ready:

Couldn't get Josephine to stand still, she was so excited! This is her ballet costume. Tap is the same, except caramel tights instead of pink, and a hair ribbon instead of the chicky hat.

Kaylen's tap costume:

Kaylen's ballet costume:

Kaylen's jazz costume - her favorite of the three costumes:

Adoption Update 4/18/12

In my last post about our adoption process, we found out that our time in IBESR could be as short as 2 months.

I will admit I was a little skeptical, after having been in IBESR for 10 1/2 months with Elijah & Josephine's adoption. Even so, when the two months came and went a week and a half ago, I was a little disappointed. You try hard to not get your hopes up, but you do. But then when the thoughts of disappointment come, the very next thought is, duh!, it's probably not likely - we've been through this before - we have no idea how long it'll be. Then back to All in God's timing. The back-and-forth thoughts are endless!

I tried to use the time praying, instead of dwelling on the process itself. I printed the list of kids in process, and prayed over each one, for their families, the GLA staff caring for them, their waiting families, and the offices that dossiers go through waiting for signatures or other action.

So a week and a half after our 2 months passed, I had gotten busy and gotten beyond that disappointment. Much to my surprise, I had an email today around lunchtime that we had a message from our adoption agency on our portal page on their website. From my phone I could only see part the subject line: "New Message from Bethany: Ou...". Turning my phone sideways revealed the remainder of that subject: "...t of IBESR!" I couldn't believe my eyes. I immediately logged in to our portal page to read the rest of the email. I think I had to read that email three times because I was so excited!

Then I called Jock. I asked him if he was at work or at home. He was working at home. I asked him if he was sitting down or standing up. He was sitting. I asked him if he was ready to start screaming. He said, "News about our adoption?" Um, yup - we're out of IBESR!!!

So here's the details... We were one of several families adopting from GLA, whose dossier exited IBESR at the same time. GLA is going to coordinate travel schedules between all the families, and probably prioritize which families travel first based on when they entered IBESR - a couple of these families have been waiting since last summer because they needed dispensation. But even so, we anticipate we'll travel "within the next three weeks or so". Yup, very specific. We were asked to let our agency know which week(s) would work better for us, so we're officially working on travel plans!

We can't wait to travel to Haiti again, and to meet our youngest son!

Basement Nearly Finished

Thursday and Friday evenings, most of the day Saturday and even part of today, they were working hard on our basement.

The bottom two treads of the stairs were replaced and the railing was installed.
The doors over the access panels to the heater/humidifier and electrical/cable panels were installed.(No, that carpet piece is not purple - it's a dark red - and will be our family room "area rug" for now.)

The bedroom window is framed out.
The doors have all received their final coat of paint.
I *think* all that's left now is to put another coat or two of paint on the stairway trim and railing, finish the sheetrock and paint on the outside of the bottom two steps, and carpet the stairs.

Then, of course, furnishing it, but how soon that goes will depend on where we end up with the budget.

Dance Recital - HELP PLEASE!!!

So I just got the girls' dance recital handbook today. I'm a bit overwhelmed. I suppose if I re-read it several times in the next few weeks, I might figure it out. Let me just say, that weekend in early June is going to be one VERY LONG WEEKEND!!! But it starts long before that...

Costume fitting is next week during class, then photos with each of their groups the last Saturday of this month. Yes, hair and make-up done, and new/unwashed/unworn tights, no panties, steamed costumes, etc., are required for photos as well as recitals. Yes, Kaylen's going to look so pretty for her soccer game that afternoon after photos! :)

Then in June - recital weekend! Rehearsal starts at 3:00 on Thursday afternoon. Josephine's first dance rehearses at 3:30, so we'll have to be there right on time. Kaylen's dances are at 4:50, 7:05, and 7:50, then Josephine's other dance rehearses almost at the end, at 8:25. That's going to be the longest day EVER!!! We'll have to find a time in there to go have dinner and wiggles - but not too many wiggles because we have to keep the hair/makeup perfect. I guess I'll take the afternoon off work to pick them up from daycare and get them ready.

Recital itself will seem like a piece of cake after that! Except that Josephine will be half asleep. She's usually in bed around 7:30, so hopefully being up late Thursday night for rehearsal and Friday night's performance will not mean that the Saturday afternoon performance is a disaster. I'm not sure having the two preschool classes (J's and another one) performing their tap routine 2nd and 3rd to the very end is a great idea, but we shall see.

But really, I'm having the most issues with the hair and make-up rules. I don't think they considered a child with very dark brown skin, and super-kinky hair.

There's a "No 'wispies' please." note in the handbook. Josephine's hair takes me about 6 hours to style, maybe longer considering I'll have to probably put it up in tiny braids that can then be styled similarly to the yet-to-be-determined hair style. So, I'll probably have to do her hair either the weekend before photos and the weekend before recital -or- take two more days off work to do it the day before photos and recital. Her hair gets "wispy" (or in her case, I call it fuzzy) within hours, and definitely overnight. So the "No 'wispies'" is probably not going to be possible for her. It's not like I can just slap more gel on in about 5 minutes and we're good, like I probably can with Kaylen's.

The make-up will be interesting too. Considering I rarely wear make-up myself, and I don't believe I've ever applied eyeliner, this is going to be tough. Any offers of help out there???

Josephine's make-up is a completely different issue altogether. Again with the non-consideration of a student with very dark brown skin. I don't really have issue with the red lipstick. And I totally get that white girls totally look washed-out on a stage under lights, so they need make-up. But Josephine's going to look like a clown if I use beige or brown eye shadow and taupe eyebrow pencil on her - maybe the blush too. The black or brown mascara and eyeliner will not even show up for her. Her eyes are already accentuated by her dark skin making her eyes look bright-white. I'd LOVE ideas from women with dark skin who wear make-up, or moms with kids with dark skin who've had to do dance make-up like this. I'm completely out of my element here! The handbook does say we can discuss make-up colors and brands at costume fitting, but I'd like some thoughts before then so I'm not coming from complete and total ignorance!

HELP!!! Maybe I'm over-reacting, but I'm soooo not cut out for this dance-mom role! Any suggestions from you seasoned dance moms?

Relationships

(Looking at the photos of all four of my kids on my cell phone.)
Josephine: "I like my brudder, named James. He's cute!"
Elijah: "He's a boy, not a girl."
J: "I know. Him's cute."
E: "He's a boy brudder. I got a boy brudder. You got a girl brudder."
J: "No, we're getting a boy brudder, he not a girl. Him's my brudder too."
E: "Nuh-uh. Mom, Josephine said she not getting a girl brudder?"
Mom: "Um, no, James is a boy, and he is going to be Josephine's brother and he'll also be your brother and Kaylen's brother."
(Elijah rolls his eyes back, silly confused.)
Mom continues: "Josephine is your sister, and she's going to be James' sister, and she's your sister. YOU are Josephine's brother and James' brother. Boys are brothers, and girls are sisters."

Yes, we're a little confused about sister and brother relationships.

We also still get confused about husband/wife vs mom/dad relationships too. We still ask on a regular basis when we see a friend without their spouse present, "Where's your Mom/Dad?" when they mean, "Where's your husband/wife?"

Palm Sunday

A few times per year, the kids in our church sing, up front, with the praise choir. Usually it's just one song before they're ushered to their classrooms, and usually it's right before a special holiday. Today was no different... except...

When it was time for the children to go up front, Josephine did NOT scream and cry for me, in terror of the loud music! I did go into the sanctuary before the service - when the praise band was practicing. I'd been there Wednesday evening when some of the kids were practicing, and saw where they were placing the preschoolers and elementary kids. The preschoolers were in front of the monitors (that feed the sound back to the musicians so they know what they sound like), so hopefully in a less-noisy spot. I explained that to her and pointed out the spots, and she said she could be brave but still seemed a little reluctant. Then when I left her in her class, she was a little clingy. Her teacher knows she has trouble with the loud-ness, and I talked to her when I dropped her off, and told her where I was planning to sit, just in case.

She surprised us all! She did awesome! She even thoroughly enjoyed it! She was dancing and singing up there with the best of them. She was so proud of herself afterwards, that she was brave.

A smile and dancing to the music right off the bat - before they even started singing and all the kids were in place. :)

I couldn't get Elijah to smile at me when he looked up at me - looked bored and disinterested up there. But you'll have those days. Kaylen's in the back row in a pink top - she doesn't like getting up in front of everyone either, but does OK in a group. I think she was also tired - as evidenced by the yawn in the next video. ;)


I didn't get a very good video. I couldn't see Josephine very well from where we were sitting - her friend Abby was right in front of her, but you can sort of see her dancing and waving her palm branch. But we can see Elijah & Kaylen singing in this one.

It was such a success for Josephine, that we decided to stay and have them sing for the second service too. Kaylen and Elijah were ready to go home and weren't thrilled but obliged. Josephine was excited! This service, Kaylen ended up right in front of the cross, still in the back row. Josephine is still in the center, right behind a girl in a pink plaid dress (she kept turning around to look at the worship leader). Elijah is slightly right of center in the front.


Second service I got a better video, but then my memory card ran out of space. At least I got a little bit of each of them singing!