Bruiser ;)

Spring Program

We barely made it to Declan's program tonight. I thought it was at 6:30 and it was at 6pm. Thank goodness for the text from my mother-in-law at 5:55 asking if we were there. Eeek!

I don't know about others out there, but I think kid's singing programs are adorable. They just lay it all out there. Declan always cracks me up because he is the kid that you would think would mess around on stage but he stands still smiles ear to ear.

Thanks for coming out, Papa and Nana!

...and Grandpa and Grandma!

Had to say goodbye to our favorite nanny (who also works at the preschool) tonight. We'll miss her to pieces while she's in Uganda!

Declan, David, David, Declan. That's all I hear about. They love each other. Besties through and through. David's mom even reached out to me via Facebook so we could get the boys together outside of preschool. Such a sweetie....and a little pistol like Decs.

..in the middle bottom row staring straight at us. Ha!

Another year down...

Can't believe another year of preschool is here and gone. Declan has grown so much in many ways this year. Here's to a fun summer....

Mama Day

Mother's Day weekend started off in a special way this year. I volunteered at a Birthmother's brunch at the adoption agency. It was fun to hang out with C alone...we never really have! Because of her and T, I'm a mom. I'm so thankful we have such a great relationship.

Saturday night we hosted my side of the family and celebrated Mother's Day over fajitas. If you know my family, that's a perfect way to celebrate! ;)

Sunday morning I wanted ONE good pic before we left for church. This is the best we got. #crazykid

My niece Keller was dedicated so we hung out with our other side of the fam afterwards.

Silly cousins:

I love my sweet sister-in-law:

The rest of the day was spent relaxing. I'm never off on Sundays (the life of a realtor!) so it was such a treat.

Lincoln Marathon

Last year I made it through about 70% of my training for the half marathon and I injured my Achilles. I was supremely disappointed. Fortunately, I got to experience some of the race while I ran the last chunk with my running partner. Still- I fell short of my goal. This would be my year until missed registration by 30 minutes. It filled up in less than 24 hours!!

Regardless, this year was awesome! Sara (running partner) and my sister-in-law Jess got together to cheer on my father-in-law, sis-in-law and a bunch of friends. This is like a BIG deal here, y'all. Like half the city lines the streets to cheer. We had a BLAST. Mark my words here, friends: pending some sort of unforseen issue, I'm totally running Lincoln [Half] Marathon 2014. Eeekkkkk...I got nauseated typing that. Ha!

Cheerleaders. It was FREEZING:

Kinsey's first half!

 Linda rocking the FULL (her 5th I believe) marathon:

 Emily's first half:

 Grandpa and his tiniest cheerleader on his 10th half:

 My sweet boy.

Hello, Spring.

Our weather recently has been very un-May-like. Today was redemption...73 and sunny. I asked Declan what he wanted to do and he decided he wanted to ride his bike around Holmes Lake (2 miles!) First we got in some lunch and park play.

Off we went. Declan seriously talked to everyone we passed. He also asked to pet every dog we passed. I appreciate his good dog manners but, geebers, that's a lot of dogs and a lot of small talk for me. ;) Some of my favorite things he said to random people:

"I'm riding a bike just like you."

"It's sunny today."

"You're beautiful" (He said this to a pretty middle aged woman. I'm 100% sure it made her day)

"I just love you" (He said this to an older women, all crooked and walking slow. Her face lit up and I got a little tear in my eye.)

"Are you watching how fast I ride?"

"My daddy is working today."

"I have something to tell you!" (followed by some random thing)

I could go on and on. It was hilarious. I honestly can not remember ever meeting a kid like Declan. His personality is an 11 on a 1 to 10 scale. Even though he's completely exhausting, he's a total joy.

This man was extremely patient with us. He answered about 22 questions about fishing and as we started peddling away, he got a bite and caught this fish!! Declan was amazed. This guy said he was his little good luck charm. Ha!

adoption (lack of) progress

Ahhhhh. God has me way confused on this journey to kiddo #2. We had no idea we would have an almost 5 year old and no other kids. I always envisioned our family with kids closer in age. I've gone through really patient periods and really antsy periods. Right now I'm just in a "irritated" period. We had our three year renewal with our current agency. We were only shown a handful of times in 2012 (2 or was it 3?....our caseworker wasn't quite sure!!??!) Though birth mom decided to parent, we were matched a year ago April. So at our renewal appointment with our caseworker instilled zero hope in our family to grown through adoption with their agency. Totally frustrating. I'm sure she didn't mean to be a negative nelly but she was. It was salt in the wound that we were even renewing as we have recently be "not chosen" by another local agency.

We did finish up our foster care classes almost a month ago. They're overwhelmed so that's on a delay as well. Hurry up and wait. Our adoption mantra.

I'm...
frustrated, sad, discouraged, annoyed, jealous (lots of pregnancies around me), confused...

Other days I'm...
hopeful, excited, thankful for where we are, trusting...

So what's next? The research phase has begun about reaching beyond Lincoln to adopt somewhere else in the US. For us that means we sink our savings in to our next kiddo and that's frightening. Praying for clarity.

Crosby

There is some background to this post. When Jack passed away (two weeks ago today) we were completed devastated. We swore off future dog ownership--it's just too hard on the heart. Those next few days were really awful and we felt like there was a huge hole in our world. Our other boxer, Sophie, was depressed too. We knew that would pass and did our best to get use to our new normal. On Wednesday of that week, Mark and I drove to Des Moines for a conference. On that 3.5 hour drive we both admitted that we had been thinking about rescuing another boxer. We both felt like it would appear to others that's too soon.

We agreed to apply to a couple boxer rescues and see what dogs came available. One little guy caught our eye but that particular rescue didn't get back to us. Bummer. Then, Sunday night I was looking through the other rescue site and they had just received 3 beautiful boxers on Friday that were set to be euthanized on Saturday. One of these dogs in particular stole my heart. I texted Mark a picture while he was at fire pit and he loved him too. I emailed for info on him as we were looking for a dog that had good energy (I know, we are nuts), was good with kids and was cuddly. YES- Jack to a "t". Now as much as we adored Jack we know he'll never be replaced. We just wanted a similar dog. The fiesty energy was missed. The sweet affection was missed. On Monday we heard back that this dog was indeed available and had been at a "Paws at the Park" event that weekend and was great with kids, playful and cuddly. Wow! Knowing that they foster dogs 2-4 weeks, the timing felt perfect.

Well we got a call we didn't expect Tuesday evening. They did find a foster home (he's been at a shelter for a bit) but it was in South Dakota! AND...the foster home could potentially fall in love with him and keep him. So, this rescue never does this but would WE foster/adopt him?! I talked to Mark and he say "of course" and they brought him Thursday. So from the moment we admitted to wanting another boxer, we adopted one 8 days later. Craziness. This is usually how we roll though. ;)

Crosby is a JOY. He is 1 years old...total puppy. He has some basic manners and we start training on Tuesday to learn more. He is HUGE. We thought Jack was a big boxer! Crosby is way bigger! He settled right in to our family and he is great with Decs. Sophie hasn't been happier. They run around the yard like best buds. He is perfect for our family. We are thrilled.

This sweet girl is a happy girl. Unfortunately this past week, at a well check, she was diagnosed with cardiomyopathy just like Jack. ARGGG. So we started meds and hope we get some time with her!

The funniest thing about Crosby is that his whole nose is set off center. It's too adorable makes his personality even more irrisistable.

Wedding(s!)

Last weekend was busy but fun. We had two weddings to attend. Mark was in the second wedding so that added a new layer of busyness. Declan sat (ahem, fidgeted) through both weddings--a first for our family. Though the ceremonies bore him, he loved the receptions. Boy has moves.

Mr. & Mrs Miller

Throwing birdseed with cousin Asher:

Mr. & Mrs. Tran

When Mark walked down the aisle, Declan yelled "daddy"!! Ha!

Love this crazy kid!

The weather was gorgeous and we loved celebrating our friends join lives.