Mother's Day Ramblings

It's kind of funny having a grandma, a mom and kids on Mother's Day. Even as a mom, I can't help but feel like Mother's Day is for my mom and that it always will be. The truth is, it will always be about my mom first.

I'm turning 35 this year....35, where does the time even go? I very clearly remember my own mom being 35 and she seemed a bit - well, old. That makes me feel ridiculous now. Ayla is turning 5 this year. What? Five? The last 5 years have gone by at a rate that seems twice as fast as the previous 10. That's a bit scary to think about....like I may just wake up one day next month and be 75.

In five short years my daughter has taught me more than any other single person. She's taught me about who I am, and who I want to be. She's taught me about who my own mother is. She has given me more reasons to believe in God than the Bible itself. I am amazed that despite my shortcomings she is such a fantastic little girl. She's smart and beautiful, funny and charming. Those aren't the things that make her fantastic though. She LOVES God. Really. Deep down, she gets it. She is one of the most empathetic and kind 4 1/2 year olds I've ever met. I am not just saying that because she's mine. She is REALLY one of the kindest little girls. She cares about people, she shares, she loves with her whole heart. I am so proud and lucky to have her. I am blessed.

Dailon and Chariyona... it's hard to decide what to say about them. They aren't mine. I want them to be ours forever but for now, I am their foster mom. I love them with my whole heart. It's crazy to see how they've changed so much in 3 1/2 months. They love us. They know that we love them. It makes me so happy to know that they trust us and trust our love for them. There was a time when I wasn't sure that they would.

Dailon sometimes says to me "Mom, you love me so much! I'm so happy!" It brings happy tears to my eyes. He's doing well in school. He's doing amazingly well at home. Visits are rough and his behavior reflects that when he returns from a visit. It's hard to watch. There is so much confusion in his world regarding his biomom and the siblings he has that don't live with him. I want so much to tell him that he'll be with us always...he asks if he can stay forever and I have no answer for him. I respond with "Daddy and I will love you forever!" In August, we should have some answers, their case will make an obvious turn in one direction or another them.

Chariyona is just plain funny. We call her "tank". She is sturdy, solid and throws her weight around to get what she wants. She is blossoming into happy and healthy little girl. She catches on to things quickly and it seems that she learns something new nearly everyday. She loves being here....Daddy is by far her favorite though. She's never had any kind of daddy in the past. I was worried that it would be hard for her to build that relationship...she sure proved me wrong! She's so young, I don't expect any type of long term issues with her. She's just our little lovey bug.

Back to Mother's Day.... It was a great day. There is nothing in the world I love more than being a family of five. I am so incredibly blessed. We spent the whole day at home, nothing exciting. We met my mom and Sabrina(including all family members) for dinner this evening...perfect end to a perfect day!

We know this one photographer...

Okay, so this 'one photographer' happens to be our sister-in-law and aunt too....Bean-Bean! She was so very kind to take pictures of the kids for us this week. I wanted to give biomom a picture of her 4 children for Mother's Day. Up until this day, a picture of her 4 children together did not exist. Sad. I know that the kids will appreciate these pictures when they're older too. I'm not actually posting any of just the Gilmore children here....these have Ayla too. The kids were not cooperative in any way :) Sabrina was amazing and is a whiz with photoshop!!

Quintell is 7, Ayla 4 1/2, Aision 4, Dailon 3 and Chariyona almost 22 months.

Our three, I love this picture
Dailon

Ayla

Chariyona

Thanks Sabrina....for your generosity, patience and mad skills :)

Easter(part I)

A few days before Easter, we drug out old newspaper and art smocks, we invited a couple of our bff's and let the kids dye eggs. We literally had a 5 yo, 4yo, 3 yo, 2yo and 1 yo. Pure craziness!!! Chary stayed in her highchair, mostly watching. She did get her hands on and break an egg here and there though.

Cady Grace had lots of fun. Check out that big smile!

The kids had a great time, some moments required concentration.

Other moments were so EXCITING, they just couldn't hide it!!!!

They were also very proud of their bright egg-creations.

And rightfully so, they did a super job

On Easter-eve the Easter Bunny paid a visit to our house. C and D have a visit tomorrow so we celebrated Easter one day early. It wouldn't have been the same without them. The bunny hid eggs in the yard and when the kids went out to do their hunt, he left their baskets in the house.

Hmmm, there is only one family member missing form this picture....any guesses on who played the bunny????

The kids were so excited about finding eggs. There was lots of oooing and ahhhing and even some screeching with excitement when a perfect egg was found

E.B. brought the kids new bikes for Easter this year. Ayla needed a 14 inch bike because her knees were up to the handle bars :0

D hasn't ever had a bike! Poor guy. He spent the majority of the day wearing his matching Buzz Light Year helmet, even when he was inside, goofy guy!

C got a little pink mini-sized tricycle along with her basket. Honestly though, she was so excited about the commotion and the CANDY that I never got a good picture of her on her trike! I'm sure there will be many to come...this is A and C at my mom and dad's neighborhood EEhunt Saturday afternoon.

Tomorrow we have church, an EEhunt at church and then home for naps. We celebrate Easter with our entire family. They'll all be coming to our house this year but sadly, C and D will miss it. Hopefully this is the last year for them to miss anything!

Saaawiiiing batttttta, battttta, batttta!!!!!

Ayla really wanted to play baseball this year, just like her bff, Caleb. She didn't love soccer last year so we decided to give baseball a shot. She's the only girl on her team and she thinks thats kinda cool. She's definitely the prettiest one on the field :) Her first game was tonight and she was excited to see that Papa and Gigi showed up to cheer her on! Dailon and Chary cheered for her "GO AYLA, GO!!" SO, so cute to see the love developing between the three of them, they really melt my heart!

Her team is coach pitch, they get 6 tries and then hit it off the tee if they need to. No strike outs for 4 and 5 year olds. The first time she batted, she had to use the tee. The 2nd time.....she hit it with a pitch from the coach!!!! We were so proud!

During the last 15-20 minutes, D and C played at the playground right behind the bleachers. They had LOTS of fun playing.

"GO AYLA, GO!!!!"

Sunny San Diego

Last week Darren, Ayla and I went to San Diego. Darren attended a conference and Ayla and I shopped, swam and played until he was done each day. It was a great time but was really, really hard to leave Dailon and Chary. Dailon was super scared about us leaving. He's been left FIVE times in the last 20 months and no one has ever come back for him. I promised that we would be back. He didn't believe me. So heartbreaking.

We made bags for each of the kids for everyday we were gone. They got a little love note from us and a couple little prizes(bubbles, cars, stickers, yogurt raisins, fun toothbrush etc). We talked to them everyday on Skype and the phone.

We had the BEST care ever lined up for them while we were gone. An old friend of mine is licensed for foster care but doesn't have a placement yet. She and her sweet little girl took our two in for the 5 days we were gone. She took amazing care of them and made it so much easier for us! Holly watched the kids during the time that Beth worked. I am so grateful for the people in our lives!!

The kids were THRILLED when we made it back and Dailon is still telling me daily "Mom, I'm so glad you came back!!". I love that little guy so much.

This was the view from our hotel room. And this was looking in the opposite direction. Ayla watching a show at Seaworld

The sea lions begging for some yummy fish!

Ayla petting a dolphin

Feeding the dolphins

Ayla drew a picture of her with Dailon and Chary...she missed them so much! (BTW, she is the peach one, the other two are brown, bwahahaha!!)

Sitting in the Queen's chair at the Old SPaghetti Factory

Room service breakfast

Our next vacay will definitely include ALL five us!

Zoo week to flu week

We spent last Saturday at the zoo...running, laughing, playing and enjoying the weather. We spent today...giving motrin and tylenol, taking temps, filling humidifiers and wiping noses. I'd prefer to spend future Saturdays at the zoo!

All three kids are sick. Viral garbage, there is nothing to do for it but take naps, drink gatorade and stay caught up on tylenol. Ayla got up to 104.8* yesterday, that is by far the highest she's ever gotten. Today's max was 104*. Chary is hanging around 102* Dailon is fever free. Ayla and Chary have AWFUL coughs but their lungs are clear and they're moving air just fine. Dailon has a cough that isn't as bad. I'm hoping he isn't getting it as badly as the other two. Otherwise, he's only just beginning!

Happy St Paddy's Day!

When I was a kid, St Patrick's Day was just a day. We're Irish. We wore green. We ate corned beef, boiled potatoes and cabbage. It was an excuse for my bratty little brother to pinch me first thing in the morning(before I was even out of my jammies) because I wasn't wearing green yet.

Last year in preschool, Ayla's class made leprechaun traps. They sent the kids home with these glittery, shiny shoe boxes decorated in foil, gold coins, shamrocks and rainbows. They also sent home a bag of Lucky Charms cereal mixed with glitter as leprechaun 'bait'.

Ayla was full of excitement and stories about the leprechauns who visit on St Patrick's Day. Apparently, these sneaky little lads come into your house at night to play tricks on the kids and leave little treats. Hmmmm.

After asking around I came up with some ideas. Green toilet water, moving items around the house, leaving chocolate gold coins as treats for the kids etc.

This year, Lucky O'Leary(named after my very Irish and sadly gone, aunt) made his 2nd annual visit. He turned the toilet water green, he turned our yellow gatorade green, he turned Ayla upside down in her bed(head toward the foot of the bed). He left all of the kitchen cabinets wide open, he stacked cans of soup on the coffee table and he switched around some of the kids toys. The kids were super excited and thought it was great fun running around and finding all of the mischievous little things that Lucky O'Leary did.

He also left shamrock stickers and festive little tattoos for the kids along with light up shamrock necklaces. Dailon asked if it was his birthday(poor kiddo!).

Dailon was dressed and ready for school before the girls were dressed so his pictures were taken by himself. That is a green "kiss" tattoo on his cheek!
Sisters

Both of them refusing to smile