Reid and Stefani Adopt

Black friday for us this year was spent in St. Augustine, FL.  Our friends, the Menloves were down from Minnesota, and we haven't seen them in years.  It was way fun to get together and catch up.  I should also mention that we have been fostering Jaydon for over a year now, and just completed a home study to be able to adopt him.  Technically, we aren't supposed to post about our foster kids, so I have avoided it up until this point.  Jaydon is going to be with us permanently pretty soon, so I thought I should introduce him.  He is 5 years old, and fits in just right with us.  Welcome to the family, Jaydon!  

General Conference is a special time for our family.  It is the time when we get to listen to the words of the living prophets.  There are 5 meetings and 4 of them are 2 hours long each.  It spans over 2 days, a Saturday and a Sunday. This can be tough on little ones, so we try and make it fun.  On Saturday, we made trucks.  The kids got to paint and nail together their own wooden vehicles.  A wonderful woman in our congregation dropped off conference crafts to do and this was one of them.  She was a lifesaver!   We also made crepes on Sunday morning before General Conference. Then we played conference bingo and got candy for naming something the speakers talked about.  Of course, the kids also ran off and played as we adults tried to listen. I don't know how much the kids heard or understood from the prophets and leaders of the church, but I smile every time one of my kids refer to a story they heard during one of the talks.    

On Labor day we took the opportunity to go to a dog beach in Ft. Pierce, Fl.  There were a lot of other nice beaches on the way, but since our little shih-poo couldn't go to those, we passed them up.  Turns out our dog isn't a beach dog...  So hopefully there was no dog poop buried under the sand close to where Reid buried the kids.  It was still pretty fun.   Isaac is now playing in a competitive soccer league.  He's learning about sportsmanship and teamwork, and he loves that he's learning the different positions.  Even though the coach is really good, Reid managed to get himself wrapped up with the inner workings of the team and became the team's manager.  He and Isaac go to soccer together 2 nights a week.   The picture below was this past Sunday.  Isaac and Esther are in one of those rare kodak moments playing nicely together with the magformers.  They even chose this over watching the T.V.   Isaac came home from school th...

We had our last trip to LEGOland Florida right before school started. The kids might be a little sad that are passes have now expired, but Reid and I are relieved!  We even got to go with some friends from the neighborhood for our last go. Most of the shops were closed due to Covid, but we still had fun. As Daniel Tiger says, “ That was fun but now we’re done.”  

Well, the kiddos are off to school again in this crazy world of ours. They have to wear masks and don’t get to play on the playground equipment. The desks and lunch tables are 6 feet apart. Both Esther and Isaac didn’t get to meet their teachers or see their classrooms beforehand. But they were excited to go back, and bravely walked themselves to their new classes with no trouble. So far so good. We are in week two and no sickness yet. God bless the children!  

 Isaac was born with an umbilical hernia. He had an “outie” belly button.  We have been “watching it” all this time to see if it would heal on its own. We finally decided this year that it was time to take action. We went to Nemours children’s Hospital in Orlando. Isaac was super worried that he would wake up in the middle of the surgery while they stitched the hernia up. The doctor and nurses assured him that would not happen. He calmed his fears and bravely prepared for the surgery, and only when they had him change into a hospital gown instead of his own clothes that he lost it and started crying. I felt so bad I hadn’t thought to adequately prepare him for that loss of privacy. Because of covid restrictions, I couldn’t even be there when they put him under.  But they gave him an anxiety medicine beforehand and he didn’t make a squeak when they wheeled him away.  Isaac and I before his surgery. I promised I would take him out to eat anywhere he wanted afterwards....

This summer we have mostly been going to the beach and our neighborhood pool. Because of covid, our usual activities are a bit limited, but we are still enjoying ourselves. Isaac and Esther’s love of the beach has grown, and it’s increasingly difficult to get them to stop playing long enough to come eat our beach pb&j sandwiches.  Esther likes to play in the waves, but spends most of her time in pretend play in the sand. Last time she filled up 6 sand pails with sand and seaweed and served us all “popcorn.”  Isaac spends almost the whole time on his boogie board playing in the waves. When it’s time to leave, he always goes out to catch “just one more wave” before I have to threaten him with loss of some privilege or another. Our car looks like a sandbox on the inside. Summer in Florida has definitely begun! Esther doing fancy moves into the pool.  Isaac’s slow-mo splash. I love that his goggles are on upside down and that his pockets are hanging out....

This week was the week of celebrating Isaac.  First, Grandpa and Grandma Carroll came to visit.  They arrived on Monday. They came for a whole week just for Isaac.   Tuesday was Isaac's birthday.  He is 8 years old now.  That kind of blows my mind.  We kept his birthday a bit low key, but we did allow him to open up one present--his roller blades.  We also couldn't help but to have at least a cupcake after dinner.  He also did the customary choosing whatever breakfast he wanted and whatever dinner he wanted.  He opted for cinnamon rolls and bacon for breakfast, and Papa John's pizza for dinner.  I may have also forgotten to have him do his chores that day.   On Thursday, we were supposed to go to deep sea fishing, but the weather has been gloomy and rainy all week, so we ended up going to the Navy Seal museum instead.  The kids were bored pretty fast of the inside of the museum, so during a rain bra...

Happy Mother's Day!   My heart goes out to the First mothers my children had...their beautiful birthmothers!  Lest you think I have forgotten your sacrifice on behalf of your children, I want to post a preview of the cards that are coming your way.   The little purple cards were made by the kids.  I do confess to helping Esther put the kitty together, but she colored it and wrote in it herself. Isaac did his card completely independently.  I hope you know that these children wouldn't be here except for your sacrifice to bring them safely into this world and make long term plans for their growth and happiness.  We don't forget that!  We love you wonderful ladies!  I am always hoping that life finds you in a much better situation than back in those early painful moments when you were considering adoption for your kids.  If you ever feel comfortable reaching out to us, we would love to hear from you! 

So I really dropped the ball on this one. I thought I had posted it LAST month!  We are settling into home school now. And by the way, both kids have lost their front two teeth!  Stinkin’ cute! Any way, I am taking over all the spiritual, emotional, mental, and educational learning of my children. How did those cavemen do this?! Thankfully, we are all healthy and relatively well adjusted to quarantine and doing well.  What working from home looks like. My bedroom is now a cubicle. 

Boosterthon is here again. Every year the school has this giant event to earn money. So I pay a bunch of money and then go cheer for my kids to run around a track. The kids love it. They get to watch special videos at school teaching good morals and then they get to skip class for a little while for this outdoor fun run. Parents and sponsors pay per lap the kids run, and they run between 30-35 laps.

We have Legoland passes, so we went again.  Yeah!  😜 I managed to get the same pictures I always get.  They just love these little kiddie rides.  Isaac has officially tried all the roller coasters, but he says that he feels sick when he rides them.  So he sits off to the side while his sister enjoys the rides.  He LOVES the driving school though.  And strangely enough, Esther waited in line the whole time for the driving school and then wouldn't get in a car.  Not sure why.  Oh well.  At least they both enjoyed the horses. As they do every time.   AND... a shout out to Esther who lost her first top tooth.  Her smile is so dang cute I can hardly stand it!

Harris Family 5k.  Isaac took 2nd place in his division. Planet 3 jumping park. A rare moment of brotherly kindness.