Teacher Gifts

Wednesday was rowan's preschool graduation, so Monday was her last day of school!

so I got on pinterest, as usual, and found these cute little buggers that I had pinned awhile back.

 

 

 

they were easy.

terra cotta + paint +somewhat steady hand = success

 

chalkboard paint

with a note that read: thank you for helping me grow.

rowan tried to write it, but it was too difficult.

shoot it was almost too difficult for me!

 

the teachers loved them! :)

Last Day of School

school's out for the summer... ! yeah.

 

i'm partly excited and partly sad.

 

rowan will never be in preschool again.

my BABY will be going to kindergarten in the fall.

what in the world. this is not ok. where did the last 5 years go?

and how can I be old enough to be a mom to a kindergartner. no way jose.

 

first day. last day.

oh man... she is so darn cute.

and her "bangs" that she gave herself have finally grown long enough to be out of her face.

thank goodness. ha!

 

this was her - I don't want school to be over - look.

 

I feel the same way.

after about 2 weeks, i'll probably be going crazy and wishing I would get a bit of a break at having her back in school.

but i'm going to really try to enjoy this time with her this summer.

being as in September, she'll be gone 5 days a week. for the rest of her life.

whoa. that's a hard one for me to swallow.

I don't like this whole growing up bit, like rowan does.

 

 

Adoption "Baby" Book

while doing some research on finding some adoption themed books for our future child I came across this "baby" book.

 

I ordered it from amazon and got it the other day.

I LOVE it.

 

its a memory book, but there are parts that are centered around the age of a baby.

if a child is adopted at an older age, and there isn't any past information known, some parts could be tough to fill out like.

like first steps and first word.

 

but all in all, i'm in love with this book and I think it's absolutely perfect for us!

not to mention, it's adorable!

 

 

My Family, My Journey

 

here's a glimpse into the book:

{poor photo quality courtesy of iphone}

 

 

Waiting: plans & preparations we made

The Match: when matched, how we found out, how we celebrated

 

Coming Home: when, trip home, what you wore

Your New Home: pic of room, thoughts of home, first day home

 

Your Adoption Day: date, judge's name, people who were there, celebration

Picture for adoption day!

 

Things that you make you smile

Things that make you cry

What we know about your birth family & where you came from

 

first year with us: spots for pictures

there is a page for every month, for the first twelve months with us

 

the back has this awesome pouch to hold important stuff!

 

there are also spots for important people who helped us find you, family trees, journey, first meeting, all about name & birthday, baby shower, before you were born, adoption story and MORE.

 

I love this book and i'm so excited that I find a baby book for adoption.

PHOTO BOOK.

Why are photo books so hard to make!?!

 

I'm really struggling with trying to assemble our photo book for the birth parents.

 

thinking about 8 pages to fill up with pictures that encompass our life. our family. all in 8 pages.

 

hard. super hard.

 

I feel that it needs to be perfect.

 

that I don't want to leave out anything that may be important. what if after i make the book I remember something that I forgot?!

 

this is all that a birth parent will see of us. everything that we need to show about us will be all in one book, on 8 pages.

 

that's a lot of pressure.

 

to make a balanced book about our life. uffda.

 

what to do...

 

we also have to make a one page sheet of photos for the caseworkers who work with the foster children. ONE PAGE.

at least the caseworkers will have our file, but still. I feel like putting our lives in one page or eight.. it's just not enough.

I know it's not possible to meet either every family and that seeing a little book about people can help birth parents, but what if I convey the wrong FEELING?!

 

this is such an important part of our process.

one that I want to finish, so that I can stop thinking about it everyday.

but one that I don't want to rush because I want it to be perfect.

 

we are coming up to the end of the process and it needs to be done soon. about 3 weeks left.

I can't believe that we are that close.

 

still waiting on our clearances.

we have been working around the house, trying to get the baby room ready.

it's almost done, although I feel like it's so incomplete.

not knowing the age or sex of our future child, it needs to stay basic.

 

will post pics when the room is finished!

 

I will just trust in God's guidance to get this photo book done.

It's growing!

so i'm slow at posting... here's the update as of a week ago:

 

 

with only 2 strawberry plants, i'm really happy with how many strawberries we have already gotten, being as last year we didn't get to eat any off these plants.

we've already picked all these red ones off!

my broccoli plants are still growing, but still no broccoli in the middle.

wondering when they will come up??

or if I should just pull the plants out and plant something else?!

 

my little carrots are growing. after half of them didn't germinate I planted some more seed and most of them have popped up!

my one tomato plant that is next to the peas is growing fast and I even spotted my first flower blossoms on it! YAY!

 

if this goes well, this will be the first year I grow all my tomato plants from seeds.

 

and the peas... amazing. they are so tall even just from this picture they are way above the string we put up and are falling over. yikes.

 

more tomatoes...

and a couple onions.... some have already died.

I tried onions last year and they didn't work either.

maybe onions and I just aren't a good mix.

 

rowan's plot.

her flower seeds didn't come up so she planted some green beans, we will see if they grow either.

her sweet pea flowers are still moving along, but aren't climbing up the twine yet.

and her one pea plant is thriving and she has some peas ready to pick.

 

my beets.

first growing them, so I don't know if they are on track or not.

I also added zucchini seeds and sunflower seeds to behind those.

 

 

the asparagus has shot up and gone to seed.

hoping next year i'll be able to harvest enough for one meal

 

more broccoli, I planted the cauliflower, and more tomato plants.

 

not sure if any of these will succeed...

last year I had lettuce and green beans in this spot and they did great... however these don't seem to be doing as good.

 

until next week.....

 

i'll be out weeding and watering!

Radishes & peas!

We did some of our first harvesting about a week and a half ago!
 

 

so excited that our peas are ready!

 

we've been snacking on them since.

I have more plants this year than any year before and they are taller than ever!

 

I harvested all my radishes at once and decided to pickle them.

I won't eat them that way, but I will give them away at Christmas or something! :)

 

I planted a variety pack this year and I loved it.

we had ones that were round and pink, white and red.

ones that were purple and looked like carrots.

and of course the beautiful French breakfast ones.

 

I will definitely do a variety pack again next year!