Sweet Lullaby

I took these pictures of M and T sleeping last night.  Sleeping children are precious and I don't want to forget these moments. :)

(All snuggled in with her bear and blanket [she doesn't like to sleep under her comforter because she has just started to make her own bed and she doesn't want to make it messy. :) ] with some of her doll house toys at the bottom of the bed.)

(Admittedly blurry--I didn't want to wake him up.  But look at his little bum up in the air, his bear under his arm and the toy garbage truck in his bed [no falling out of this bed!].)

I recently came across this short, sweet song on YouTube and am so touched by the words and images.  I just tucked M and T in for their afternoon naps--read them a book and gave them each a little snuggle.  It completely breaks my heart to see pictures of rows of sleeping children without a family...  Even on a day when I struggle with patience, in the end, it is so not okay that there are so many orphans...

Orphan Lullaby by Lindsey Teefey...



I also updated my music on the right with some African and Ethiopian (in particular) music.  If you have any good recommendations, please let me know! :)

Children's Books

Putting together a big order of books from Amazon.  For Christmas we got M this book...

The author retells fairy tales and puts them in African settings.  The illustrations are beautiful!  Going to get a few more. :)

The Lazarus Effect

This 30-minute documentary was on HBO and YouTube yesterday. Amazing the difference that ARV's make for people living with HIV (The Lazarus Effect). Also amazing to see the influence of just a few people (like Constance) with a passion to help others.

Prince and Princess Week

This past week was Prince and Princess Week.  We dressed up, talked about what makes a real prince or princess and had afternoon teas.  :)  Here are a few pictures of tea time...

We actually used our China--sadly maybe the 2nd time in 10 years!

Hands in his lap before the tea began. :)

Dunking the tea bags and adding sugar and cream were definitely the highlights.  T's tea was always more of a science project than an actual beverage.  But it was very fun! :)

Now onto "Team Week."  Working on our manners and listening skills to all work together like a good team. ;)

A Yellow Pansy

Something I will miss one day...

M collects little flowers to put in these tiny vases (shot glasses from yard sales) and she puts them in our bathrooms. 

Bug Week

We just finished up Bug Week.  My kids are running around these days pretending to be spittle bugs--really, spittle bugs...  :)

A little side note. :)  Sometimes I wonder what people think when they see us parading around the neighborhood with antennas on our heads, or what M's teachers think when she tells them what we're doing at home.  Thinking they might think I'm a little crazy.  :)  But, these theme weeks seriously have been injecting some much needed fun and cool memories into our ordinary days.  Especially on days when I'm struggling to use a "good mommy" voice, or when I would have normally run out of ideas of stuff to keep us from being bored.  We've been doing them for a few months now and J and I were talking about it last night and saying how it has been really fun and a good thing for our family.  M is still talking about how she got to make the PB&J sandwiches on "Golden Rule" day and T frequently asks for more treasure hunts. :)  Anyway, onto bug week... :)

We started the week by collecting ants for our ant farms (from the $1.00 section at Target).  Okay, so collecting ants is much harder than I thought.  The big ones were WAY too fast and the little ones were hard to find.  But, thankfully we found a living mound of ants (maybe they were migrating?).  So we collected about 7 for each ant farm and then brought them inside to watch them tunnel. 

Hmmm...so while the little ants were abundant, they were also the perfect size for fitting through the teeny, tiny air-holes.  I tried to make the holes smaller with some tape, but M's still all escaped.  We welcome you, tiny ants, to one of the largest ant farms ever--our home. ;)  And poor T's ants lived for a few days and then they "joined their family."  J is in charge of collecting our next army of ants. 

We made "ants on log" for snack with pretzel sticks, chocolate peanut butter and chocolate yogurt covered raisins--yum!

M and T dressed up like bugs to help with some "busy bug" chores--complete with an extra set of legs. :)

They made their own bug-shaped snacks another day.

After looking for bugs under rocks we made our very own "Rock Bugs."

And we ended the week with a "bug hunt."  When I worked at a preschool I had made a bunch of HUGE laminated bugs to go along with Eric Carle's The Very Quiet Cricket.  M and T had fun finding them all over.  Admittedly, though, it might be a little creepy to find a cricket this size on your toy trains. :)

We're in the midst of "Prince and Princess" Week.  More to come. :)

Sunday Funnies #10: Sleeping in a Basket

T has a tendency to fall asleep wherever he is playing (usually behind his door).  This is where we found him last night.  He had been watching J work on the deck under his room (this toy basket is under the window).

We did what any good parents would do ;), we took a picture and snuck away.  Later he pulled a pillow into his "nest" from the futon beside him.  Little monkey slept there all night! :)

Bird Week and Music Week

I've been a bit behind on my blogging. :)  But wanted to quickly post about our Bird and Music Weeks so that next year I can look back to remember what we were doing.

So, two weeks ago we had Bird Week.  And I finally learned the names of some of the really quite beautiful birds in my backyard--favorites are the red-winged blackbird and Eastern bluebird (seriously bright blue).  We made "bird's nest" bowls out of shredded paper and pretended that the beanbag chairs were nests.

Then one week ago we had Music Week.  We listened and danced to a lot of music and played with our musical instruments a lot (confession: I usually keep them tucked away because they are rather noisy.).  I was actually quite shocked about how much M and T liked classical music.  They seemed to love dancing to the happy parts and were thrilled to run and hide during the more dramatic parts that sounded like "thunder or volcanoes."  :)

(Sidenote: See M's shirt?  I bought it at Target and then used the iron-on transfers that you use with your printer to make the words "Waiting for Sister...")

(Bug Week photos coming soon.) :)

May Number

Our official number for May is

for a little girl 0-15 months (from 52 in February). 

So we've moved 19 spots in about 2 months! 

And #17 for siblings from the same age range (from 24 in February) .

Hmmm...we so look forward to these new numbers.  Being mindful today that we are getting closer to actually seeing the face of our little girl.  Thinking deep thoughts about her birthparents and praying that wherever she is tonight that she has a full belly, a warm bed and that she knows that she is loved...

Saturday Fun with Yard Sales and Birthday Parties

We had our May Birthday Party at Hudson River Housing (temporary homeless shelter) today and we celebrated the birthdays of 6 little people. :)  As I was putting stuff together last night for the party I realized how cool it was to have so many people pulling together to make the parties happen.  So many different people dropped off things for goody bags or even made up a whole set, bought presents and juice boxes :), made awesome cupcakes and volunteered to help with the party itself.  Thank you, Friends!!!  (http://www.hvsweetbirthdays.blogspot.com/)

Before the party today M and I had a girls morning at a HUGE community yard sale.  I might be addicted to yard sale-ing.  :)  My objective is to find inexpensive toys that help build imagination and that don't take up too much space.  :)  Today's best finds were a few little doll houses that M has been playing with non-stop, 30 books for $3.00 and the DOUBLE alligator "rocker" (that looks like it has room for 3!).  Oh, and at the birthday parties we usually bring a rug for a play space for the younger children, but today I found one of those alphabet puzzle mats for $2.00 and it worked so well and is much easier to transport. :)

Fun day--and now it is most definitely time for bed!

Inspirational Quote :)

"For a long time it had seemed to me that life was about to begin — real life. But there was always some obstacle in the way, something to be gotten through first, some unfinished business, time still to be served, a debt to be paid. Then life would begin. At last it dawned on me that these obstacles were my life."

— Alfred D. Souza

Our "Waiting for You" Video

Waiting for you, little girl...

Waiting from G Miller on Vimeo.

(Song "Blink" by Revive)

Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day to my MOM (GrammyKathy), Nana, Grammy Miller and Grandma and to all of my "Mommy" and "Soon-to-be Mommy's"!  Love you guys!