My Weekend Project

After completing the boys room a couple weeks ago and loving it SO much.

It has been on my mental list to do something with Vivi's.

Her room has already been nicely decorated since we moved in last Sept...

But the floor is always covered with stuff.

I am amazed what one little girl has managed to acquire from just 3 birthdays and 3 Christmases, and various grandparent gifts,

since we don't buy our kids toys throughout the year.

It is usually a land mine in there.

I would avoid going in there at all costs because it was so overwhelming.

But not anymore!!
We bought these bins and rack off Craigslist for cheap, they look brand new. I tackled the whole room, every nook and cranny and put like items in bins and baskets, and under bed storage boxes. It took over 2 hours....that is how bad things had gotten in there! I told Billy he was not allowed to say, "It's not going to stay this way," as I am already very in touch with how these kids can trash this room in less time than it takes me to shower. But atleast we have a system for cleaning up now! The exciting part was in seeing that the colors of the bins are dark pastel, which happens to be the color theme in her room:
So in combination with my paintjobs to our side-of-the-road finds,

like her dresser and dollhouse bookshelf...

Everything matches perfectly!
(We love Paige's old white doll beds! They are perfect in there! And Vivi takes very good care of P's tiny black beanbag baby doll, "Olivia" that she cherished from the age 3 on. I am so thankful to have that doll as it brings back fun memories of my first girl and her doll fixation...which by the way, she starts highschool in a week, people...gasp!!)

Organized toys are a beautiful sight...but then I had to tackle...

The Closet.

The Closet is a place that is in constant disarray.

I usually just use my foot to shove over the junk when I have to get her an outfit.

But no more! I filled the trunk with dress up clothes and the 3 drawers with shoes, accessories, and jewelry/play make-up.

Then I hung dresses up next to Fall items.

And reorganized all her princess dolls and accessories in their shoe rack.

So there it is!! What a relief to have that done before school starts!

My next project will be the playroom.

Lunch Box Menus

As requested, here is the list of school lunch items that I typed up and posted on the inside of a kitchen cabinet. I only selected things that I think my kids would be willing to try or that I know they already like. On the "iffy" items, I will make sure Isaac helps me prepare it. This may help him have a willingness to try it. This list assumes you can have nut products at school. Vivi cannot, so she won't get sent anything with nuts.

Main Entree'/Protein/Carb

*Wraps with cream cheese, turkey, sliced cucumber, and spinach leaves on a whole wheat tortilla

*Salads w/meat chunks or sliced almonds, diced vegetables, shredded cheese, and light Italian dressing (sent in a separate container).

*Hummus or bean dip with a variety of crackers, tortilla chips, or veggie sticks to dip

*Kabobs made with ham chunks or meatballs, pineapple, and cherry tomatoes

*Soup

*Deli Platter of whole grain crackers, meat, cheese, and a fruit

*Egg salad made w/chopped celery and shredded carrot

*Meat sandwiches on whole wheat bread (my new thing is to buy bagged leaf spinach and sneak it in everything... omelets for breakfast, grilled cheese sandwiches, torn into pieces and hidden amongst romaine lettuce in a salad, and smashed into the light mayo or thousand island dressing of a meat sandwich...the kids do not notice and all 3 eat it up...getting about 3 servings of spinach a week!!)

*Apple slices, peanut butter, and a drizzle of honey on whole wheat bread

*Chicken salad stuffed in a half of an avocado

*Cold Pasta salad w/pesto sauce

*Bean and cheese burrito

*Spinach and cheese Quiche or tart (look up recipe online, can be served cold)

*Cottage Cheese

*Grilled chicken strips w/Honey mustard dip

*Chili and a corn bread muffin

*Tuna pasta salad (canned tuna mixed w/cooked and cooled macaroni noodles, peas, and light mayo...we LOVE this salad)

*Ravioli tossed in olive oil and served in a thermos with steamed mixed vegetables

*Banana or Zucchini bread spread with almond or apple butter and sliced almonds

*Whole grain rice in a thermos w/turkey Kielbasa sausage and kidney beans

*Tortilla rolls cut into pinwheels

Side Dishes ( Choose Two)

*Veggie sticks w/ ranch dressing (carrots, celery, zucchini strips,cucumber wheels, cherry tomatoes, black olives, edamame, small broccoli florets)

*String cheese

*Sugar free pudding/jello

*Yogurt parfait

*Trail mix

*Baked lays, Sun Chips, or whole grain tortilla chips w/mild salsa and guacamole

*Rice Krispie Treat

*Yogurt parfait

*Dried fruit

*Kashi TLC cookie

*Popcorn sprinkled w/parmesan cheese

*Unsweetened applesauce cup

*Fresh fruit

*Steamed apples w/cinnamon

*Honey Nut Balls (in a food processor combine graham crackers until fine crumbs, add peanut butter and honey. Form into balls and roll in coconut. Refrigerate overnight before putting in lunch box)

Drinks

*Water

*White Milk

*Unsweetened and caffeine free iced green tea

*Water with a splash of cranberry or grape juice

*Water w/half a (bottle sized) packet Crystal light lemonade

*Milk with a dash of Hershey's syrup

Back To The Craziness

It is coming up fast, ya''ll. Fast.

Am I counting down the days until the glorious August 23rd? Yes. Will I be one of those teary eyed, My-baby-is-going-to-kindergarten Moms on the first day. Heck no. Do I love my child dearly and will miss him terribly, yes. But let us just be real honest for a moment...school....all day...5 days a week!! I have been ready for this day since the moment he pitched his 4th tantrum before noon, spilled paint on the play room rug, and peed on the couch, for the 3rd time . (Okay so Vivi was the one to spill the paint...2 more years and counting til she goes to kindergarten).

You get my drift?

Next week is Isaac's Open House where we will meet the teacher. We are almost all prepared. I bought his supplies back in July when the sales starting hitting and the shelves were still stocked, including a new lunch box. But I need a couple more things that I hope to get this weekend. I bought the teacher gifts, same thing I do every year...apple hand soap from Bath and Body Works. No need to reinvent the wheel there. Next weekend I will be participating in the time honored tradition in TX of tax free school clothes shopping. Woohoo. I look forward to this every year. It always falls the weekend after my b-day...which is such an awesome way to celebrate as shopping for kids clothing is my all time favorite hobby. Handsdown. Well... that and Christmas shopping for the kids is tied with planning their birthday parties, and taking them on vacations...ok, so I like everything about being a Mom (other than the messes, obviously), but I digress.

So as I am preparing for them to go back to school, I am so glad we have an early bedtime anyway...so there will be no need to rearrange schedules. I am hoping to get Vivi's room organized in some fashion as the daily battle to pick up her vast array of pastel colored toys, accessories, dolls, dress up, jewelry, dollhouse pieces, and the like is beginning to really grate on the very last nerve I have left this summer. I have organized our at-home supplies for homework and bought great flat boxes from Ikea to keep all his adorable artwork in throughout the year. I have also begun to schedule our Fall Line Up. So far it only involves Awana. But I am hoping to join a Mom's group at church on Friday mornings, sign Vivi up for cheerleading, and Isaac for flag football. That may not happen because it appears that the sign-ups for football ended in June for the fall. What the ? I would also like to sign J up for a mommy and me gym class if CPS will reimburse us the tuition as we will already be spread pretty thin money-wise.

So there ya have it. The heat of summer will follow us well up to Isaac's birthday in early October, but I still LOVE the fall. It is my favorite season. Here is hoping for the 100 degree days to begin to taper off!

Early Childhood Intervention

Today we had 3 women from ECI come out to assess J's development. They were here for 2 hours. It consisted of asking me a lot of questions about what he does and doesn't do, his routines and how he handles them, his behaviors, his eating habits, showing and receiving affection, what he says, and more. Then they did some exercises with him like drawing a circle and lines, stacking blocks, fitting blocks into one another (problem solving) and a shape puzzle. They wanted to see if he would hand them only one of an item, if he could name his body parts, choose big over little, and basic other developmental skills of most children who are 30 months of age. At the end they told me he definetly qualifies for services and will be getting two therapists at two different times every week, one for speech and one for developmental delays. These are the age ranges that he scored at: Cognition- 23 mo. old, Self Help/Adaptive-23 mo. old, Communication-21 mo, Fine motor-26 mo, and Social Emotional-20 months old. We will spend from now until he turns 3 in January trying our best to get these ages up to par with his actual age. They also will be sending out a nutritionist because he does not drink milk or eat vegetables, which is a concern at this age especially. So as of today I have begun to keep a food journal to give to her when she comes to assess him. ECI also believe he will qualify for PPCD at the public schools. Which means the day after he turns 3 (which happens to be a Monday), he will likely go off to school half a day 5 days a week. There they will be working on his development in a social situation which will be wonderful for him. I will be meeting with the school district representative sometime in Sept. to determine if he qualifies to begin school next semester.

I am very happy with how ECI assessed him and I am excited to see how this will help him grow and mature over the following months. I know it will be a big commitment for me to take on these challenges and therapies, but I know this child has come to us because we are capable, motivated, and excited to see him thrive and succeed. We have a road ahead of us, that is for sure. But I am hopeful in many ways for this little guy. The journey ahead for him looks very bright.

CPS Staffing

Yesterday Billy and I went to the advocacy center and participated in a "Permanency Planning Staffing" with CPS. There were 16 people invited to be a part of this meeting and only about 10 of us were there, all women except for Billy and CPS' assistant district attorney. Those who did not come included J's birthmother, her court appointed attorney, and J's attorney. This was disappointing. We didn't expect his birthmother to come because she didn't show for their visit last week, but I was annoyed that the attorneys weren't there. Our caseworker said to me on the way out, "Laurie, looks like it is just you and me working on this case! We are all we have."

The purpose of the staffing was for everyone involved with the case and their supervisors to get on the same page. I was able to bring a photo album of the boys and passed that around, everyone was very excited to see how they were doing. Then the mediator began by asking our caseworker why J entered the foster care system. She explained that part. There was some confusion as to why the current plan is "reunification" based on the family history until I explained that there were no previous terminations on the mother, only two relinquishments prior to J's birth. Several of the women said "oh, well we can read the writing on the wall here." They all agreed that by our first hearing in court, about 6 months after the child enters care (which for us puts us at right before Christmas...lovely)...we will likely have a new Permanency Plan which will be termination and adoption. That was great to hear. We are praying that it will be that and not an extention for the birthmother to work her services, pushing us into next year. The mediator asked the caseworker what the birthmother's services included, which I won't share here, but I will say 8 weeks into the case she has not done any of them yet.

The mediator thanked us for choosing to parent these boys together. I said "Oh, Isaac has changed our life. Getting J was like winning the lottery twice." She smiled and CPS' attorney said, "we will see if you feel that way when they call you in a year with another one!" ha! We all had a good laugh about that. :)

So that was it! Now I continue to take him to his visits once a week, tend to his medical and developmental needs, and wait out the Fall until our hearing. Thank you all for praying for us and J. Things are progressing the way we hoped and I will let you know if anything changes.

Nana is here!

Billy's mom is here for a visit. J and Nana enjoyed some computer time together. She is staying in a hotel because we are a bit maxed out in the bed department around here! She politely declined sleeping in either a) a bunk bed or b) a fold out couch. I cannot imagine whatever for? :) The great thing is, Vivi got to have a sleepover with her in the hotel last night and they had all kinds of grandmother and granddaughter fun, along with a hotel breakfast. It was reported that Vivi loved pushing the button on the ice maker. It's the simple things in life.

Nana treated us to Red Lobster for dinner last night, a big bag of Barnes and Noble children's books (and more on the way in the mail!) and a kid's clothing shopping trip today:
We love Gymboree, but you have to really work the sales. Even though their clothing is very high quality it is terribly overpriced. Thankfully I had a coupon and we bought off the sales racks. She bought the boys matching winter outfits. I just love these colors on Isaac every fall and can't wait to see J matching him!
Corduroys are SO, SO cute on African American boys.

Vivi got some tank tops for next summer. They were each $3 or less.

And these adorable giraffe shorts for 7 bucks and sundress for $11.
Can't beat that!!

She also left a very generous check for school clothes like she has done every year since Isaac started preschool. I have been collecting store coupons and have a pretty good arsenal going. This year she added more clothing money for her 3rd grandchild. These grandchildren sneak up on ya, don't they?! Thanks for a wonderful visit and for spoiling us all, Nana!