Things You Shouldn't Have to Say

"Oh baby, let's wait to lick our toes till after bathtime. It's kinda gross when you do it right after you were walking around in the garage."

Our CASA volunteer

I ran into our CASA volunteer last week. While we have swapped a few texts here and there, I hadn't seen her since our adoption ceremony 1 1/2 years ago.

I am not sure I can put into words how meaningful it was for me to have the opportunity to see her again. This is someone who impacted our lives so very much. She played a large part in changing the trajectory of the kids' lives. She put hours, HOURS, into the kids' case and came to know our little family quite well.

I value this person so much. If I could tell her thank you every single day, I would. I know I do in my head.

I haven't yet read the details of the kids' case that I wasn't made aware of over the course of their time in foster care. We had some pretty hush hush rule followers on the case (not always true), so there are gaps in what I know. I have a CD in my house that will give me that information, but I haven't looked at it yet. I appreciate that our CASA is that bridge of knowledge between the kids' "before" life and their "current" life.

As a most random aside regarding this CASA, two things:
1. For our adoption party, our volunteer brought over fruit salad and plastic ware. Brand new plastic ware that she took the time to wash ahead of time. Every time I eat off of one of these spoons or forks, I think of her.

2. I must've been getting judgy or nosy early in the kids' case...it was definitely before they left the first time. This is what our CASA told me: "My mother always says 'worry about what is happening on your side of the street.'"

Why on earth do I remember that so well when I can't remember what I wore yesterday?

Thank you, dear CASA. We are forever grateful for you.

The Campout

We had grand plans to go camping last week with two friends. We drove an hour away in the rain, played at Chickfila for about an hour and a half while it continued to rain, and then drove to our site just to prove to the kids that it was STILL raining and we wouldn't be staying this time.

We came back home to roast marshmallows, play in the rain, sleep in the living room, and have a picnic the next day. My kind of camping!

Pele and the Flower Picker

Two kids finished their first soccer season last week. Both will say they like it though on the field that was less evident. Speed has some fast footwork and scored several (all but one for the whole team over the whole season) goals. Sunshine stood on the outskirts much of the time and during the last game, she literally was out there picking flowers while people played.

 Speed is dying to start up again, which he will do in the Fall.

Sunshine is trading in her shin guards for some ballet shoes, she has decided.

Some Random Things From Chickadee's Mouth

"Can one of you please slap a strawberry on my plate?"

"Someone could walk in HEB and just POP one of those pickles in their mouth, you know."

"When I grow up, I am going to have nine uteruses so that I can have a lot of babies."

Chickadee is FOUR!

We are on a nap break from a weekend of celebrating Chickadee's fourth birthday. She had grand and VERY specific plans on what we would do this weekend and we only have one thing left on the list to complete (dinner and ice cream at Phil's Icehouse/Amy's Ice Cream).

If it hasn't already been evident, Chickadee thinks outside of the box. True to herself, she planned, mostly on her own, all aspects of her "Holiday" birthday theme.

There were Santa plates and cups. Thank you, Walmart, for making such things available in April.

Thank you also, dear organizational skills, for having the small Christmas tree and Santa hats very easy to access in the garage.

(insert name in that big blank spot)

 There was a nod to Valentine's Day with the "chocolate Valentine cookie cake."

And last, there was an "Easter" egg hunt. The kids stuffed the eggs themselves during the week and thought that was great fun.


I recently reread the post I wrote about Chickadee on her third birthday, and so much of that is still true. She is still a book-loving, mama-leeching, red pepper eating kind of girl. But here are some other things to remember about her at this age:

1. Chickadee is obsessed with baby dolls. We may now own every baby doll accessory created and we have about 15 babies in our house. All of them are typically named "brown baby" or "pink baby". Two of them are occasionally referred to as "baby Elijah" (pronounced "baby Jew-li-juh").

2. Chickadee can sit with books and read forever. She read books for the entire time I did Sunshine's hair yesterday....at least 1 1/2 hours. She reads them through naptime and reads herself to sleep at night. She can officially read her name and the word "or".

3. Chickadee still thinks her feet shouldn't touch the ground. She will still occasionally talk me into using the carrier (which is fine, given she weighs only 30 pounds). She never walks into the kids' school in the morning and rarely walks into her own.

4. Chickadee often fights with Stubby over where they will sleep at night. Mostly, but not always, she wins.

5. Chickadee thinks it's the funniest thing in the world to hide from guests when they come over. She still fits into "her" kitchen cupboard but cannot, CANNOT stop laughing so she's really not that hard to find.

6. Chickadee's mind is always on the go. The other day, she pretended that her sippy cup was a trash can and that she was the garbage truck, picking it up and pouring the trash (milk) into her mouth. Another day, she held her strawberry on a fork over some steamy black beans and declared she was roasting marshmallows. 

This kid has brought me so much joy from the day she was carried into my house almost three years ago. She is almost always happy and laughing. I am so lucky to be her mama.

I love you, Chickadee! Happy 4th Birthday!