Sorry 'bout the empty box

One of my favorite things about this season is opening my mailbox and being greeting with piles of Christmas cards. I love the family pictures, the updates, and the cute card designs that fit each friend.

So don't hate us or worse boycott our box....but we didn't do a card this year.

We will be back on track next year. So please don't scratch us off your list, that would make us sad.

Merry Christmas From Shannon and the Fam!

Run, run, as fast as you can, you can't catch me I'm DARTH VADER

For Homework last week Corbin was supposed to decorate a little gingerbread boy. He was so excited and knew exactly what he wanted to do. Darth Vader. Yep we sent a Darth Vader gingerbread boy to school and Corbin couldn't have been more proud of himself.

{He did all the coloring, and cutting and gluing. He helped pick out the felt colors and approved every step of the design down to the button on the light saber, it was a fun little project.}

Christmas is coming...

and we have paper chains that are getting shorter every day to prove it

one on the mantle and one on the back door

they are a darling reminder that I'M NoT ReaDY!!
(not a single gift has been bought ahh Time slow down just a little...please)

Look out Fashion Week

Cooper has his own sense of style. He loves layers and lots of 'em. He love accessories and lots of 'em. Here are just a couple pictures of outfits he put together just in the last couple days. But our grocery trips are filled with "high fashion".

This red ensemble consists of a soccer jersey under a sweater vest, with a church tie (a must for all real toddlers). Topped with an angel helmet, baby doll, and tools in the back pocket, cause you "just never know".

This blue look is another Cooper original. To achieve this look start with a collared t shirt, then a tie under hoodie so it just pokes out. Don't forget to add dad's socks, 3D glasses, fisherman hat and backpack (seen in background). Oh and a toy gun helps to scare away the bad guys. Add a chocolate smile and your look will be complete.

This kid I tell ya, he keeps me laughing.

My Lucky Day

I found a $100 bill today. Yes one hundred dollars.

I thought I lost it almost 5 years ago. Yes, Derek had been accused of spending it while I was out of town on a girls weekend. Still when ever I clean out a drawer or put on a coat that I haven't worn in a while I wonder if I will find it.

I started to think about the stories you hear of people who pay their tithing but know they won't have enough money to buy food for their 12 kids, and then they walk down the street and exactly the amount of money they need is sitting in the gutter or under a rock or whatever.

You know the ones.

Well I had decided that it must be OUR lost money that other people find and think that their prayers are answered. God works in mysterious ways, right. And in a way it made be feel better thinking that maybe someone who needed it more than me found it.

And then boom, there it was.

Hmmmm, maybe I'm the needy one. It sure did feel good to find you ol' long lost friend.

No cute title tonight...

{This isn't the kind of thing I would usually blog about but I can't find my journal tonight and I don't want to just jot this down in a notebook and forget that it's there. So at least I know that if I type it here it won't get lost}

Tonight Corbin and I had a moment. We were laying in his bed. We had said prayers and finished reading books and he rolled over to his side with his his back to me, which is my cue to kiss him goodnight and turn out the light.

Instead I started to whisper the ways that he is special to me. The same things I tell him all the time, that he is so smart and funny and sweet. And a wave of extra love washed over me. I told him that I know some things are hard for him but I think that he handles them amazingly. I told him that I felt lucky to be his mom and that I know Heavenly Father sent him to me on purpose and how safe I feel knowing that he is mine forever. He rolled over with tears in his eyes and buried his head in my chest and put his arm over me tight and simply but so sincerely he said " I love you mommy". We cuddled a while, until the emotion softened and I kissed him and turned out the light.

What a sweet moment that I will hold close to my heart always.

Our New Sign

You're either a mom or a kindergarten teacher if you can read this, and if you can you know it makes perfect sense.

Another Fall Craft

This one was a little messy but fun! We turned Corbin's painted footprint into a ghost garland. He loved the squishy slippery feeling of the paint on his feet.

I poured washable paint into a plastic lid, outside, on a plastic table cloth, with a bowl of water and a towel nearby for cleaning up. Once they dried we punched holes and strung a ribbon through.

It maybe our only Halloween decoration so far.....but at least it's something.

Don't even know what to say about this one...

Cooper decided to change his own diaper. I mean seriously - change his own diaper. But it was a stinky one so I had to jump in before things got too messy...he wasn't happy about that. He wanted to do it all by himself.

So I don't know....is this adorable or scary?

Fall Craft Time

This is the first of our fall crafts. I think I found it on Flip Flops Applesauce. They are little juggling balls {or whatever you want to call a ball that doesn't bounce}.


Directions:
1. Blow up one balloon to stretch it. Deflate.
2. Using a funnel (we just made one out of card stock) pour rice into this balloon , we used rice but you could also use barley, cornstarch, or sand
3. Cut off the lip of this balloon and fold the leftover neck over.
4. With the second balloon, cut off the neck and stretch it over the first balloon to secure it.
5. Repeat step four with the third balloon stating the opposite direction to give the balloon ball extra strength.

We added an extra layer to make them look like eyeballs....get it....eyeballs he he he

Shhhhhh

Don't tell Derek....I just realized that I used his toothbrush twice today. Man, mine is the pink one, the pink one, the pink one....hopefully that does it.

He loves me...He loves me not....He LovEs Me!

Cooper picked me flowers for the first time. He was so excited to give them to me, like he had come up with best idea ever invented. Sure they were from the garlic plant, so the house and his hands smelled...yummy (?)... for a while, but it made my day. Maybe picking flowers for mom is the best idea ever invented.

They're in

The tubes are in. Corbin did great. We'll know if the Doctor did great next week (smile).

I was worried about keeping food away from him this morning, but our check in time was 7:30 am. soo happy it was early. We slept in (in Corbin time) and got ready to go in about 15 min. so no food was easy.

We had plenty of new books and stickers to play with while we waited, and thanks to Kara, one book we bought really prepared him. The nurse thought it was so great, she took it from me to show the Doctors in surgery. They are planning to order a bunch.

Waking up from the anesthesia was hard, but he didn't get sick so hurray for small blessings. He is feeling well and after only one dose of Motrin hasn't complained of any pain.

Now we just wait for our coming visits to see if his hearing comes back. I think it will. Our new challenge...to keep 'em dry. That's gonna be tricky.

Thanks

I have the best friends. You are all so faithful and positive. I just wanted to say thank you for the helpful comments you left on my last post. Thank You.

I feel lots better. I feel calm and not so stressed.

Going to the temple was just what I needed. I realized that I have been given a special blessing. That is, I don't feel jealous of anyone who is pregnant....ever. I really honestly never get my feelings hurt or wish it was me when other people can have babies no matter how easily they come to them. It's like a whole separate part of my brain that doesn't even compare our situation to theirs {or yours}. I am not sensitive about it at all.

I know that is a blessing from my Heavenly Father. One I had never thought about.

I love to hear that my friends are expecting and I hope that you never hesitate to share that news with me. I may not be able to swap breast feeding stories with you, but I'm fine with that, and I still want to hear yours (smile). I do know that no matter how a baby comes to your family there is always worries that everything will be okay, and that I totally get.

HomeStudy

I have wanted to write about our Adoption Homestudy Visit this week...but it's really hard for me to put into words how frustrating the adoption process can be and at the same time express how much we love it.

We love that we have two of the cutest boys we could have ever dreamed of. We love them. They are ours and we feel so grateful to our Heavenly Father for helping to guide their birthparents (who we love) to find us. To help them make the difficult {understatement} decision to place their babies with us.

But it is hard feeling like another child is so out of our hands. Right now it is in the hands of an agency that looses our paperwork and doesn't remember the things they have told us. In the hands of a {new,young} case worker who will only be in the office a couple days this month, so there is no way she can do anything to get our profile on line until October. October!

But we are glad that the Church has this agency. We love that the birthparents get to chose who their baby will go to, not just to who ever is next on the list. I love that when Corbin was born our case worker said a prayer in his office before putting our profile in the binder that his parents would be choosing from. I'm thankful for that.

I know that this really is all in Heavenly Fathers hands. I know that He knew our paperwork would be misplaced a dozen times, even after we had been told it was all in.

But this time is stirring up all the feelings that infertility {I hate that word} brings with it. It's just like wondering each month it the test will be positive. Only this time it's wondering if our phone call will finally be returned, did they get our last set of paperwork....."No, sorry" or "Oh we just realized we don't have -----"; So we try again next month.

For couples who have already gone through years of this disappointment it just seems like paperwork should be the easy part. And I hate feeling like I'm complaining about paperwork while there are girls, women, out there trying to decided to keep or place their babies. I know it doesn't compare, this is really not hard.

So we are going to the temple tonight. I just need to feel that peace. I need to feel closer to my Heavenly Father. I need His comfort, to know He is with us through this. I want to pray for the birthparents of our next little baby. {Who ever they are, when ever they are} I want them to feel his love and strength. I'm sure we both need it.

Friends

Cooper and I were playing on the floor today and he threw himself on me and gave me a big tight hug and said:

I or fin mommy

(I your friend Mommy)

Em keep oo save ba guys

(I'm keep you safe from bad guys)

I mommy fin Cooper

(I mommy friend Cooper)

Sometimes I just want to eat him up he's so sweet.

Can't Go Anywhere With Out My Little GPS

This is my little back seat driver.

He can get us to: Grandmas House, the Grocery store, Target, the Mall, Candace's House, The Speech Therapists, The Doctors, The Dentist, The General direction of the Beach and Disney land, Church, School, and I'm sure a few other places.

He has a map in his head.

My favorite is when he tells me to "keep straighting".

I think being all buckled up takes a little control away from him, but being able to help me know which way to go gives him a little back. I'm sure it will come in handy someday....maybe he'll be a taxi driver when he grows up (smile).

Isn't this about the cutest bike ever. Click on it. Maybe one of us will win.

September 8th @ 11am.

We have our Home study date! That means that the adoption paperwork process is about to end and we will be officially up and waiting....I mean looking...(faith is an action word right (smile)) for our next baby!

Ahh it has taken forever for us to get to this point. A lot has changed at LDS Family Services when it comes to adoption, and it has been a longer than we expected process to finish all we have to do on our end. But there is a light. Oh how I have prayed and cried and hoped and worked for the light. And it's here.

I know this is really only the beginning. Adoption is unpredictable but has been so good to us. We are so hoping and praying for another little blessing to come to us.

MONDAY

Monday we are taking away the Binky! For good, cold turkey,adios.

Eggs Glorious Eggs

*So I decided to rewrite this post, it didn't like how long it was. Here is the abridged version.

After 2 years of having an egg free kitchen, Corbin has officially out grown his egg allergy!

Last night I made scrambled eggs for dinner, both Corbin and Cooper had no idea what they were looking at (poor deprived kids (smile)). Recognizing the confusion on Corbin's face I asked him what he thought it was.

Hmmm "butter popcorn with marshmallows inside" was his answer.

I can see his point. Yellow, fluffy...later he decided they were just "Marshmallow Power". I kinda like that. Long live "Marshmallow Power". Yippee we can have eggs again!

Hmmmmm

Hmmmmm is the sound that Corbin hears in his left ear all day long, hmmmm. Isn't that sad. It must be so annoying, like when you have a cold and your ears plug up and you feel like your head is in a bubble. I hate that.

Corbin needs ear tubes. I don't even know if I just said that right. I'm still trying to learn about this. He has fluid in one ear that is effecting his hearing so the ENT says he needs tubes.

Do any of you have any experience with this. I have no idea what to expect or how to prepare him for this. I'm not even sure what kinds of questions to ask the doctor and our next visit is just a few days before the procedure. I don't know how it will effect his daily life or how long he will need them in. The ENT says keep your ears out of the water the pediatrician says just wear ear plugs, neither of those sound great.

If any of you have any advice or know anything about it I'd love hear it.

2 Down

Corbin is off to his second day of Kindergarten. This morning taking him to his classroom I had to run to keep up with him....so I would say that so far he Loves Kinder!

Here is the traditional 1st day of school photos at the front doors, ours and his new classroom.

Finding a book

Reading the book on the carpet

(thinking I can do this, I can do this, I'm okay, I can do this)

Corbin said on the first day of school he:

read stories

colored- "teacher says don't scribble"

did ABC's

practiced writing circles and lines

had a snack

played on the monkey bars

didn't move his apple, it stayed up. (that means he was a good boy)

Most importantly he

HE RODE THE LONG BUS HOME

Three other little kids got off with him all from his same class. I didn't even know there were kids his age in our neighborhood. They all really wanted to play at each other's houses yesterday, I love that he is making new friends.

Cooper missed Corbin. All morning he kept asking for him and wondering around calling out his name. I also found him laying on the floor looking at Corbin's bus chart from preschool, just laying there saying "Corbin I miss you". So sweet.

And I have to say I did great. I took my friend Kori's attitude that Kindergarten is a fun new adventure and thought about all the excitement he was going to have instead of thinking about how I'll miss him and worrying about how he will get along with out me. And it work. I left without crying (not that crying is a bad thing, I did plenty with preschool) I did have Cooper there with me when I dropped him off yesterday so if I started to feel sad I just gave Coop a kiss. So that helped too.

We love Kindergarten.

The Beach Boys

Just wanted to post a few beach pictures before summer ended. We have been having so much fun going to the beach this year.

Corbin loves the water and loves the boogie board. He loves finding sand crabs and running and splashing around.
Cooper on the other hand still feels more at home in the sand....holes to be specific. If any one had abandoned a hole with in view, Cooper would spot it and take it over as his new seat and then just chill.

This one is just some proof that I was there too.

I'm Not Ready...

The count down till kindergarten is on.

I'm a little nervous......but I want Corbin to be excited, so we made a chain. That's just what we do around here.

I can't believe school starts next Wednesday. We are packing all the fun we can into the next few days. If you need us we'll be at the beach (smile).

HapPy BirThDay CorBin!

Corbin tuned 5 last week. On the day of his actual birthday we went to the beach. He has so much fun playing on the boogie board and jumping around in the water.

The next day we had his official party. This is the first year that Corbin invited friends to a birthday party and he was very excited. He knew just what he wanted...A Darth Vader Bowling Party.

His friends were all so darling. We started with a game of Star Wars Bingo while we waited for more kids to show up...(if anyone out there is thinking of doing a star wars party I'd be happy to share the game boards I made). They all had so much fun bowling and were so cute cheering for each other.

Of course Corbin thought all the gifts were fun too. He played with everything when we got home and did a great job saying thank you to his friends all on his own.

Making a bowling alley a cute place for a birthday has hard be we tried.

The Blowers on the chocolate cupcakes were a big hit.

One of Corbin's presents was a Darth Vader costume. It took him a little bit to warm up to it. When it comes to costumes I really think that Corbin believes that it is Darth Vader's actual clothes or maybe that people will think that he is the real Darth Vader, It makes him a little nervous to wear them at first. But once it was on he didn't want to take it off. He even slept in it that night.

I hope that Corbin had a wonderful birthday. We are so lucky to have him in our family! Man do we love this kid.

THE END

The best $2.50 I have ever spent.....

Cooper loves these sunglasses.

One fish, Two fish, Green and Blue fish

We are having lots of fun in the water this year. Corbin loved swimming lessons and is getting all around the pool with out floaties. Cooper took a little longer warming up to the whole pool thing but he loves it now too.

I love how exhausted the kids get from swimming and how easy they are to get to bed after a day in the sun and water. Ahh I love summer.

Happy 4th!

Hope you had a great 4th of July!

2 just kicked in

Cooper turned 2 May 1st but being 2 has just kicked in. Last week while he and I were driving around he started practicing his "No". This is what I heard, all cooper... "yes" "NO", "yes" NOOO", "YES" "no", "yes" NNNNOOOO", "yes" "no", "yes" nnnOOOO" and on and on. He was trying out all different ways to say "no".

Say a little prayer for me....

Seeing Double

9 years ago today we had a double wedding with my brother Joel and his wife Lori. I know most of you couldn't imagine sharing Your wedding day. But we got engaged the same week and both wanted a June wedding so there ya go.
I had been single for a while and decided my only hope was to get married before my little brother. And I did, by 30 minutes. My Family and Derek's were in a sealing room upstairs and when ours was over Derek's family went out side to wait while the 2 of us and all of my family went down stairs with Lori's family to another sealing room . I think it work out well. I know Lori and I would have done some things differently if we had our own days but we were just happy to be getting married to such great guys it didn't really matter in the end. The reception was in my parents back yard and we each had 10 tables to decorate in our colors. On the cake we alternated flowers on each layer. It was a wonderful, beautiful day full of family and friends.

I am so blessed to have Derek. He is an adorable husband and I love every minute that we have together. Happy Anniversary Hun. And Happy Anniversary to Joel and Lori too!

Nuh ting

When Cooper is where I can't see him I ask "what are you doing?". Lately his answer is "Nuh ting". Nothing huh?...
This morning "nuh ting" meant he had pulled a chair over to the counter, climbed up, opened the cupboard, found the cookies, opened the zip lock bag, and licked the filling out of each one.

The Rain in Spain Falls Mainly on the Plain

Derek served his mission in Madrid Spain. He loved it and really hasn't stopped talking about how cool Spain was since he returned home 10 years ago. So when his mission president organized a reunion in Madrid Derek was thrilled and I was excited to see all the places he talks about so often. Here is a little summary of some of the things we did and saw.

We spent most of the time in Madrid. I loved Retiro Park with the lake and shade and funky statues. It's the best place to eat a Magnum Bar (if you have been to Europe you know what I'm talking about).

These are pictures of the Post office that looks like a castle, Us at the Prado Museum, downtown doing some shopping, Sunday Church with President Shallenburger's family and the Linton's (mission buddy of Derek's), Derek outside one of the pisos he lived in and the Madrid symbol-a bear eating berries out of tree (don't ask me why).
It was fun getting to know the other couples. I was worried that it would be a bunch of missionaries swapping stories in spanish the whole trip but it wasn't like that at all. I really like the other wives and enjoyed the time we were together as a group. We had a good balance of group time and time alone to explore and be together.

Pres. Shallenburger chartered a couple bus trips for us which was a great way to travel to some of the near by cities. This is Toledo. It is high on a hill with lots of windy little streets to walk around. There is a castle there and a cathedral of course. "Holy Toledo" it was a cool little place.

Then we bussed over to Consuegra, The windmills of La Mancha. Yes, these are the very windmills that good ol' Don Quixote tried to battle. This was one of my favorite sites.

Derek was in Madrid when the Temple was dedicated and he got to be part of the event. It was really fun for him to see it again. It is a beautiful building that is amazing inside. I loved being there.

The next bus trip was to Segovia. It is famous for it's Roman aqua duct. It is just amazing that something build so long ago is still standing. It is so tall and runs 2 miles long. I could never do that math it took to build such a thing.

Segovia also has an amazing castle with a mote and everying. The mote was empty but still quite a site. Apparently they modeled the castle at Disney World after it. Many movies have been filmed there. In fact on the plane ride home we recognized this castle.

We also caught a bull fight once back in Madrid. It was kinda cool. I really thought I would hate it, but it was interesting to figure out. We saw 5 different bulls fight and 2 others get washed up. We were the only ones rooting for the bulls....they never won.

These are a few random pictures of tiny cars, the great walled city of Avila, the Plaza Mayor in Salamanca and Derek's favorite lunch- ham.

When it was time to leave we were ready to go home. The day before I was starting to have a tummy ache so we went back to the hotel to nap. I woke up not feeling much better. Then we called home and talked to cooper who had slept through most of our calls home. And just hearing his little voice made me happy. It wasn't until we hung up that I realized that my tummy ache had gone way. I was just home sick for my little boys.

We brought back presents. Some Lladro for us. They made a beautiful Christus for the church which we don't have a safe place for at the moment, but some day we will be glad we have it. And stuffed bulls aka Ferdinand, and puzzles and soccer jerseys for the boys.

We got home to a sparkling clean house with cut flowers at the kitchen sink and fresh sheets to slide right into. My mom took great care of the boys and they had so much fun with her. She really is an wonderful grandma to our boys. I know that she worked hard over here too. These little guys know how to keep you on your toes. So I thank Dad and Derek's parents for helping out when they could too. We could never have gone on such a great trip with out all of you. Thank you thank you thank you!