Happy belated Valentine's day and bowling

Happy belated Valentine's day. I hope everyone enjoyed their love day. We sure did. As usual we went to Sunday school and church. We quickly grabbed unhealthy hoagies from WAWA as we had five teenagers over for lunch. After lunch the teenagers went home we all took naps. Nothing is better than a lazy Sunday afternoon nap. That evening we went bowling at king pin lanes. This was the first time Carson has ever bowled. Carson wore size seven bowling shoes and bowled with a three pound bright orange bowling ball. He would not allow anyone to help him. He is such a brute! Overall he did extremely well and we all had a great time. After bowling we enjoyed a nice dinner at Olive Garden. Needless to say it was a long fun family evening and we were out way past Carson's bedtime.

Carson's pony and snow pictures

The shadow

For the past few years I have been walking with a dark shadow that will not go away. Everywhere I turn, I see the shadow as it lingers all around me. I have prayed about it, sought counseling, dreamt about it, found myself driving for hours thinking and replaying conversations and memories in my head. I have turned it over to the Lord however its still following me. What is the deal? I thought I moved on with my life. I can not call "K" to make it right, I can not apologize as nothing will change. There are so many times throughout the course of the week that I want to talk with "K" and share stories and laughs. I can not call and get hurt again, I can not call with false hopes and desires things would be the same. I am tainted. The other part about the above is the luggage I carry with relationships in general. I am very guarded with all. I fully understand, in order to make a relationship work it takes two. I also understand that I had something to do with the relationship going south but to end it...
I am not posting this for my blog friends to reply with they are "sorry" its more to put my feelings on paper and show that I have pain in my life as well.

Go away snow

I am over it! This was one of N.J.'s worst snow storms in years. We received over 18 inches of snow. Needless to say, Jonathan and I were transporting employees to and from work, my Dad plowed my work's parking lot, Shauna watched Carson, and the horses were in their stalls for 48 hours with 20 minutes on the cross-ties while I cleaned their stalls.
Today Jonathan took Carson out in the snow while I took care of the horses. Carson loved it! He laughed and ran so hard he could hardly stand up. Once I was done with the horses I joined in on the fun. We made snow angels, played tackle and had snow races. It was fun, but come on sunshine.
I need to give thanks and praise to the Lord. We did not lose power(as many did), we were safe driving, our Honda Ridgeline did incredible in the snow (highly recommend).
Per the local weather station, we are supposed to get another snow storm on Wednesday. As we were driving to the horse stable today, I was dreaming about being in Guatemala. I love being so close to my family however I truly feel a calling to Guatemala. Its very hard to put into words, however its getting stronger everyday. I am not sure how I would ever tell my parents- We are moving..
Guess what? I would NEVER have to deal with a snow storm again. That sounds so wonderful!!

wordless wednesday-dreaming of summer

Indoor racing

Saturday night we decided to be rebels and go out in the snow storm. We trucked to Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City to watch indoor racing. This was our first experience with this type of entertainment (what an experience). It was loud, smelled and smokey however a lot of family fun. Carson sat on Jonathan's lap 95 percent of the race with his eyes watching every move on the track. The other 5 percent he was picking up his popcorn that he dropped (he has ocd when it comes to cleaning). Overall it was a great time and I am sure we will be back next year.

Wordless Wednesday

In America

Carson is still going through periods of hitting and yelling at us. Tonight Jonathan was putting Carson to bed (which Carson was fighting) and he started hitting and yelling at Jonathan. After Carson finally settled down Jonathan went into talk with him about his behaviour.

J: Carson you do not hit or yell at Daddy. Use your words!
C. Well Colin hits and yells at his Dad.
J. Carson its not about Colin now
C. Colin calls his Dad a poopie head.
J. That's not nice. Carson you do not hit, yell or call people poopie heads.
C. In America you do.

Where the heck did he get that from?

seven months and counting

until we are back in Guatemala for a week. I can not wait...
psss..I am trying to sneak a quick trip in before then :)

still sick.

Carson has been sick since last Tuesday. He has an ear infection, head cold, productive cough, runny nose and blood shot eyes from coughing so hard. For the last five days he has laid around the house with little spurs of ornery energy. He is completely MISERABLE and ORNERY! I am not complaining...well maybe I am. I want my sweet little boy to feel better.

Ear infection and little dinner

Carson went to the doctors today. Needless to say, my sweet little boy has yet another ear infection along with a head cold. UH! Tis the season...

Yesterday morning around 4:30am Carson comes into our bedroom (conversation)
Mommy, I am hungry.
Carson what do you want?
Hmmm, a little dinner.
Carson what do you want to eat?
I will have a chicken.
I could not get a word out of my mouth as Jonathan and I were laughing so hard.

Pegs anyone?

BamBades

Carson has a new love for BamBades (Band-aids). While Jonathan and Carson were shopping on Saturday, Carson was campaigning for band-aids. Needless to say, Jonathan bought Carson scooby doo band-aids (a box of 25). That afternoon Carson was laying in our bed watching a movie. I walked in to check on him and saw a 1/2 empty box of band aids laying on the bed. I said, Carson where are all the band aids? He replied, I don't know... I said, let me see your hands? He quickly raised his hands from under the covers. I was trying so hard not to laugh. He said, see Mommy. I said, What happened? Carson replied very seriously, Sneakers (my Dad's puppy) licked my fingers today.

I have a request...

I can not handle to many more short daylight hours, cold, gloomy and windy days. Please bring on the sun!

I want to see the chips, please.

Jonathan and Carson waited in line for an hour to get photos taken with the "chips".



Carson would not even look at the chips.

The chips started touching and swiffing(sniffing)Carson.

AAwweee, now that's more like it.
After the photos were taken, Carson said the chips kept swiffing me. LOL

Look Mommy a golf ball!

Carson absolutely loved going in the big golf ball (as he called it) lol.

This is how we rolled while taking cat naps between shows at MGM.

I am not sure which state was colder

last week, Florida or NJ?! However we had a great time despite the record breaking low temperatures in Florida during our vacation. More photos and stories to come..







Yes, the above photos are all from Florida last week. Can you say...COLD!!

M I C K E Y M O U S E

Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, Mickey Mouse and forever we will hold our banner high, high, high.
We are off to Florida!

Carson's top 10 for 2009

I can not believe its the last day of the year. Where the heck did the time go? Well, I must say the Lord was really good to us this year. Besides a few little colds and sinus infections we were blessed with great health.
Carson grew so much over the last year. We had our struggles with his hitting and temper (still do) but we had great gains as well. He is blossoming into a very intelligent young boy. He loves to read, do puzzles, play cars and sports of course. I give our Lord all the praise and glory for a wonderful year.

10.Carson jumped off the diving board.
9. Carson rode on his first roller coaster.
8. He had his first vacation away from home while Jonathan and I were on our honeymoon.
7. He graduated into a size 18 month pants and 24 month shirts.
6. He was in his first Christmas pageant.
5. Carson started preschool in September.
4. Carson sleeps in a toddler bed now.
3. He learned all his colors and shapes
2. He was healthy all year.
1. I finally married Jonathan. Carson now has an earthly Daddy.

potty training blues

Carson is three years and three months old and still not potty trained. We have been working on it for at least three weeks. We have tried using the little potty, big potty, peeing in a plastic cup, giving candy (chocolate) after using the potty, etc. nothing is working. Help!
P.S. When he does peepee in 'something'(not his underwear or the floor) we make a HUGE deal over it.

A few Christmas photos

We were truly blessed this Christmas season. We opened gifts and had breakfast at my parents home around 9am we all had a great time and ate a yummy meal. We came back home to quickly finish preparing our dinner since we were having more family over. Our guests arrived around 5pm and our time was filled with eating, exchanging gifts and playing a really fun game called Apples to Apples.

Did you give a gift?

Awwee, its been a whirlwind for the last 48 hours. I am not complaining since I truly enjoy spending time with family and friends. Even through the hustle and bustle my mind drifted off to what I am giving the Lord for his birthday? Today is the Lord's birthday. Right?! I want to give him something perfect. I want it to be the right color, size, fit, hip, gift ever. What can I give him? I have thought about it for hours...I came up with a few things, however it did not feel right and I knew there was something better. You see, I was trying to figure out what to give him. What did I want him to have? What did I think was best for him? As I was in the shower I heard the Lord say, ask me what I want? With much (I must say much) hesitation I finally said, Lord what would you like for your birthday? He did not give me a "list". It was one request. And I do not have to go anywhere, make a big change in my life, sacrifice much, make a purchase. He asked me to spend more time reading about him. WOW! I can do that... Happy Birthday Jesus.

Any takers

We are leaving for sunny Florida the first week of January for seven wonderful, warm, sunny, sunburn, drinking lots of water, fun filled, (oops, I got carried away thinking of the sun) days. If any of my blogg friends or lurkers live around a certain disney area we would love to meet with you.

First christmas pageant

Carson was in his first school Christmas pageant last night. As you can see my cute little "angel" had his fingers in his mouth during the whole show.

What else can I say?!

Dear Miss______,

We would like to thank you for your understanding and support regarding Carson’s adjustment to ______ ______School. As we have expressed to you numerous times, we too are concerned with the behavior issues that have been occurring at school.

Jonathan and I are trying to reinforce what you’re teaching him at school regarding appropriate and inappropriate behavior. However, it has been a bit difficult and frustrating for us at times since we are not seeing the same behavior at home that has been highlighted by you and your staff. We understand there are variables involved at school that are not possible to duplicate at home.

We are becoming very discouraged with some of the content that has either been written or verbally communicated about Carson’s behavior (e.g., forceful, disrespectful, remorseless, attacked, etc.) We recognize the importance of documenting these incidents accurately; however, the implication is that Carson is acting out in ways that are malicious or intentionally hurtful.

Furthermore, as you are aware Carson came from an orphanage, was in foster care, and then our home all within the first year of his life. So he has been through numerous substantial changes at a very early age. We don’t want to put him through additional unnecessary changes with school either.

We believe Carson has enjoyed being at the school and has benefited quite a bit since starting there in September. He talks about his teachers and friends often and likes going each day. He role-plays at home and involves his teachers’ names when doing so. For these and other reasons, we want Carson to continue with your program and allow it to impact his life even more.

Thank you for your continuing efforts and understanding. We will continue to partner with you with the shared goal of improving the experience for everyone involved.


Sincerely,


Greta-Jo and Jonathan