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I was talking with friends this weekend about how the schools are cutting back because of the economy. Lucy and Cole's school isn't having a science fair, supplies are down and less big tests(they are expensive to grade). Education is so very important to us, so besides helping at the school, we are trying to do more educational things at home too. A few things that we are doing include going to the library every week, exploring more online resources, and setting aside more time and supplies for at home projects. Knowledge is a very high priority for us.

We are getting ready for Valentine's Day. Lucy has banned us from her room as she secretly makes presents for us. Cole has let us know again and again how he likes stuffed animals as presents. Last Saturday we turned our house into a Valentine card making workshop. We made cards for the other kids in their classes, their piano, gymnastics, church and school teachers, they sent ones to their cousins and grandparents, and some to just plain old friends too. This afternoon we are going to decorate sugar cookies. For the actual big day we have a lazy day of movie and treats planned. Lucy and Cole both voted for a day of not having to get out of their pajamas.

New Year's was fun. We set up a glow-in-the-dark bowling alley at our house using our table, chairs, glow sticks and old Gatorade bottles. The next day we had a game day with our neighbors. Rex's brother and his family came and visited in between Christmas and New Years. Lucy and Cole have started back at school, piano, and gymnastics. Life is in full swing again.

We had a nice Christmas. We spent time with friends, and with each other. Our family got a basketball hoop from Santa, with different basketballs for each family member. On Saturday we went to the art museum and science center. It also snowed here, so we had a white Christmas,and played in the snow.

My brother came up for Thanksgiving. We had a fun time with him. We also got together with our neighbors that night for pie and games. Cole sang with the other first graders for the school Christmas concert. His favorite song they sang was "Mail Myself to You." It had actions and turned out cute. We put our Christmas tree up. It is gigantic. I had ordered one through a school fundraiser. When Rex went to pick it up he paid $5 more and got one that was huge. It took all our Christmas lights to cover it.

Whew we have been busy. We had a big trip to San Diego, where we went to the ocean, LegoLand, and Sea World. Cole ran form ride to ride at LegoLand. The waves at the beach knocked Lucy down. We all liked the shows and rides at Sea World. I also have been helping at the school more lately. In addition, my neighbor and I canned pepper jelly for Christmas presents. We still have a few more things to do to get ready for the holidays.

Lucy lost her two front teeth, one right after each other. She is a few years behind on losing her teeth. The Tooth Fairy doesn't care and will visit her anyway. Cole is working on losing his first tooth. He wants to lose one so bad, and works on wiggling his loose one whenever he can.

We had new family pictures taken recently. Lucy and Cole were a little shy at first, but then they warmed up to the photographer. Their favorite picture was when they sat on the chair holding each other. They have so much love to share with each other. I know they already love and want to share with a new sibling too.

Lucy and Cole started gymnastics again on Friday. They love it! Both had done it before when they were little, but have been doing other activities. It will help them stay active in the winter, when it is cold outside. Lucy also got new glasses, they are transition lenses so they turn to sunglasses outside, which is what she really wanted. Since Lucy got new glasses, Cole wants some too, even though he doesn't need to wear glasses.

Lucy and Cole both started school. Lucy's favorite thing about school right now is each student adopted a number and her number is 36. Cole's favorite thing about school is playing with all his friends all day long. They both have done well in school, and I know part of the reason is the preparation I was able to give them before they even started going to school. Education is important to us, and I look forward to the one on one time with the next child, teaching them to read, like I did with Lucy and Cole, as well. We all love to read in our family, and the picture is a reading nook Lucy built in our bathtub a few weeks before school started.

We have been so busy the last few weeks before school started, going to baseball games, amusement parks, swimming, birthday parties, visiting relatives again, and getting school supplies. Cole and Lucy learned to ride their bikes as well, and Cole decided he could help his next baby brother or sister learn how to ride a bike. They are both so enthusiastic about what they want to share with another sibling.

We came back from our camping trip. It is always fun to hike around, swim in the lake, and just spend time together. This time we had so many S'Mores we had to say no more S'Mores. Cole's favorite part was roasting marshmallows, and Lucy's favorite part was the second hike. On that hike we focused on enjoying and looking for signs of nature, like seeing animal tracks, listening to birds call each other, and looking for insect bitten leaves. We enjoy making those memories and look forward to making new ones in the future with a new child.

The week before last Jeni went to Girls' Camp with our church for the week, and Lucy and Cole went to Grandma Camp with Jeni's mom. All the nieces and nephews on that side were able to get some serious cousin and grandparent bonding in. They especially enjoyed swimming every day and visiting the recycling center. My parents would love to have more grandchildren, and are looking forward to us adopting.
We finally got our AIM and GTALK up and running. We have a cell phone too, that we just recharged. It has been dead for a few days, we will be more vigilant in making sure that it is charged up. Our email gets checked daily. We are going camping this week but will be sure to check in when we get back this weekend.

We had a family reunion with Jeni's immediate family. One of the activities we did together was go to the Hill Air Force Museum. Besides a ton of planes it also had a fun learning center for the kids. Both our families are excited about adoption and praying with us.

Lucy and Cole finished this session of swim lessons. They really seemed to catch on this time. The teachers are great and they had a ton of fun. It is interesting see Lucy and Cole's different approaches to swimming, we wonder whether the next child to join our family will be a little fish, or be more hesitant in the water.

Last night we were going to go camping. Both the kids were sick so we set up the tent in our backyard instead. We cooked dinner and S'Mores over a little campfire we had back there too. They wanted to sleep on the trampoline, but got too scared so we all ended up in the tent. This morning we went to a nearby state park to go a on a short hike. Lucy and Cole have gone hiking with us so much they are such good little hikers. We look forward to having another little one to join us on our hikes.

Lucy and Cole are done with school for the year. I spent time in their classes helping and in Lucy's class for two years it was the same kids. It was sad for them and I to say goodbye to their teachers and friends, but we are looking forward to the summer. We just keep praying for a baby brother or sister to join Lucy and Cole in their summer fun.

We were preparing for and then went to a big family reunion for Jeni's dad's siblings, and her cousins and their kids. Quite a few of her cousins were adopted, 6 of them were there. It was exciting to share our hopes of adoption with them. This a picture of our family near the campground.

We have a few friends who at different times in their lives have been birth mothers. We heard that the day before Mother's Day is Birth Mother's Day, so today we just want to say a big Thank You!

Rex took Lucy to work with him for "Take Your Daughter or Son to Work Day." She got an id badge and other souvenirs on her tours through his workplace. Next year Cole is looking forward to going. We are also looking forward to adopting. When that will happen depends on when a birth mother looks at our profile and reads our journal, and decides we are what she is looking for. We hope that this sharing helps them in their amazing decision.

For Easter we went to see Rex's family on the ranch. They always have a couple hundred eggs for the kids to hunt for. After spending a few relaxing days there we went to San Francisco. Cole loved the aquarium, seeing and touching sharks. Lucy liked the Exploratorium (a giant hands on science museum) and the Golden Gate Bridge park. It is fun to see these new experiences through our children. We look forward to someday sharing the joy of seeing and feeling ocean animals, or pedaling to make electricity, with another child.

Cole needed to clean his room. While helping him, he told me his ideas on how he wanted to rearrange his room. So encouraging his independence I helped move the furniture around to where he wanted. When we were done he said, "Look how much room I have. Now the baby can sleep in my room." Lucy and Cole regularly discuss what they will do when we adopt - where the baby will sleep, who will sit by it in the car (they decided between them), what more things we should buy, what books to read to it, and so on. I know they feel, as Rex and I do, that our family is not complete.

This year I told Lucy and Cole I would make Easter Bags. Since they couldn't agree on an Easter themed fabric, I let them pick some tie dye fabric. I thought it looked like Easter egg dye. We tye dyed some shirts recently with Sharpies and rubbing alcohol. The shirt Lucy is wearing in the picture is one we made by placing cutouts (a dragonfly in Lucy's case) on the shirt, spraying it with bleach, and then rinsing it out. I enjoy doing small sewing and craft projects with them (they picked out the bag pattern for the Easter bags, picked out and placed the cut outs for the shirts, and so on).

For Valentine's Day we put a bunch of hearts on our kids' doors(a heart attack) and then a path of hearts to their presents. They were so excited when they woke up. One Christmas we got them a tunnel tent and put their presents in the set up tent. We celebrate half birthdays. One Saturday Lucy declared it World Day of Dance, then she and Cole did dance performances for over an hour for. Last year Lucy, Cole, and I had breakfast at the school for National School Breakfast Week.

For Rex's Birthday, Lucy gave Rex a tie she made. He wore it on his business trip the next day, and proudly told people it was a gift from his daughter. Rex is an involved Dad. He plays with Cole every day when he gets home from work and Cole jumps on him with light sabers. He can do Lucy's hair. He knows who their doctors, teachers, and friends are. When I am out for the night, Rex can get the kids bathed and to bed without any difficulty. He is always up for a game of Sorry, or Life. He is as excited about adoption as I am.

For the 100th day of school for Lucy and Cole we are taking 100 pictures of them at school. (This is one is Lucy's classroom in front of the reading teepee.) Then Lucy is arranging the pictures to be the number 100. I help in Lucy's class most weeks and Cole's class sometimes too. Getting to know the different kids in their classes is so fun. They all have such unique personalities and look at life in different ways.

Our neighbor had her second little boy. After she came home from the hospital we went over to visit with her and her newly expanded family. She asked Lucy and Cole if they wanted to hold him. Lucy at first was too shy, but Cole said yes right away. After seeing her brother could do it, Lucy decided it would be alright if she had a turn too. I was nervous about them holding him, but they did a good job of supporting his head and being gentle. We handed him back to his mom no worse for the wear. I know they will be supportive and gentle older siblings as well, when a child is placed in our family.

We made goals as a family this week. One we are focusing on right now is to have more fun. We made 2 lists, one with fast fun things(crab walk race, freeze dance game etc) and one with fun things that take more time and effort(make forts in the family room, paint a big picture together). Another one is adoption. The kids decided they could help with that by getting their paperwork done cheerfully, as they have to do their physicals again, since their ones from last year are almost a year old. They also are willing to have me take their picture to put in this journal to help others get to know our family a little better. Like the picture of them having a crab walk race through the family room

We visited Rex's parent's for New Years. Rex's mom made all her grandkids fleece hats and jackets for Christmas. She picked out the pattern because the girl on the package reminded her of Lucy. While we were there we showed Rex's mom that our profile was up online now. Both of our families are very excited about adoption.

My mom always gives the grandkids pajamas for Christmas. Her mom used to do it for us. We let them open the pajamas on Christmas Eve. The next morning Santa gave them matching slippers right outside their door, to wear as they made their way to the presents.