We all need Girlfriends!

We have almost been home with Nora for five month now.  Time has FLOWN by!  Most of that time she has spent playing with us or her cousin, Luke, who lives across the street.  She has gone once to another friend’s house for the day.  But today she had girlfriends over to play for the first time.  Two sisters, one is 1.5 years older than Nora and one is 1.5 years younger.  When we picked them up, they were all timid and shy with one another as they were almost strangers.  They have met on two or three occasions, but never played together… hard!  As soon as we arrived home, they all went out to the trampoline and the laughter and squealing began.  It continued for hours.  Sweet music to my ears!

I packed snacks and juice in Nora’s little picnic basket and they had tea on the little yellow picnic table in the backyard as the wind blew their hair all wild.  And they talked non-stop.  Like girlfriends do.  At one point, the dog was bugging them, so Nora came and put her in the house.  She poked her head inside the back door, and upon seeing me looking at her, Nora said excitedly, “This is SO fun!”   “I know!” I responded, because I DO know!  Why didn’t I get her with girlfriends sooner????

(Disclaimer: Nora dressed herself:)

Half way through the play time, I packed the three little girls into the back seat of the van so I could pick up Larisa from work. (Yes, she works now… but that’s another blog.) On the drive home, Larisa and I just sat and smiled as we listened to Nora tell the entire story of the day she got a family.  It was so sweet.  She didn’t miss a thing!  “Mommy way crying.  Daddy was crying.  Larisa was really hard crying.  Keeve was crying.  They crying because they so happy.  Austin no did crying. And I run to Mommy and kiss her and give her stuffs I make. She hug me. Daddy hug me.  I was so happy, but I did no crying.”  Melts my heart!  It’s the first time I heard her tell the story!  She was so proud!

Again I say, we ALL need girlfriends!  They simply bring out the best in us!

Holy Buried Sock, Batman!

My sweet husband helped some friends move and they graciously sent him a gift card for Lowe’s…. AND HE GAVE IT TO ME!   Better even still…. for FLOWERS!  Whooooo HOooooo.  I have the sweetest husband.  (Side note: Rick is leaving for 5 days for Flight Safety next week, not by his choice, but still, it’s the busiest week of the kids’ lives with someone needing to be driven somewhere every single day… multiple times….. HENCE the kind flower gesture. Sort of a peace offering.)

I spent 60% of the money on lasting flowers and 40% on winter flowers… we live in Arizona, in case you are confused about winter flowers…. they are most likely YOUR summer flowers(marigolds, lobelia, sweet William, pansies, allysum, petunias, etc.)   I’ve been impatiently waiting for cooler temperatures… which still aren’t arriving.  It is about 85* F and it’s NOON, for goodness sake…. three days before NOVEMBER.  Alas, I could wait no longer with the gift card burning a hole in my pocket.

So the photo above is a round flower spot that has been empty dirt all summer. So I was visualizing a colorful array of blooms, and then I threw in some height with the purple grass and found my bird feeder and assigned bird-food-duty to my youngest son.  BUT, before all that happened, I was turning the soil in all my dirt patches around the yard and in this particular spot I dug up four socks.  Perfectly good socks.  Socks that all belonged to my youngest son, bird-food-boy.  Socks that he took off to jump on the trampoline.  Socks that our dog found neglected in the backyard… and so the DOG put them away.  If only my children were trained so well.  But no.

The backyard is clean and tidy for the first time since April.  It’s wonderful to look out the kitchen window and see color again.  Blessed relief.  Here’s a few more peaks:

Below is fondly called the ketchup and mustard flower bed.

These don’t show up that great, but it is a pale pink hibiscus with trailing yellow vines hanging out of the bigger pot.  The small pot is dark purple pansies and royal blue lobelia, my all time favorite flower.

And last but not least, the Sweet William on the patio table.  We can finally eat outside again!  Yippeeee!  I love winter.

OOOOOooooo LA!

Today was a bit of a shocker for me.  A three year old was here for four hours.  The reality of toddlerhood has not been brought to my mind’s forefront for a while.  When Zaza arrives, I hope we cherish every chasing, wiping, picking up, changing mind moment that she brings to our home.  The three year old little girl that was with me today loves to jump on the trampoline.  Not surprising.  Ours has a full net so it is impossible to fall off or out or between the springs.  It’s adoption safe, as our home study social worker informed us.  So I left the three year old jumping happily… until I heard unusual sounds coming from her.  I couldn’t determine if it was crying or what???  I ran out the back door to find said 3YO on the far side of the trampoline with her hands in her armpits, flapping her elbows, “talking” with our chickens.  Oh, it was darling.  THIS is why I can’t wait for Zaza to get here.  I hope she talks with the chickens and says adorable little quips like, “I be wight back,” and “Come wif me, thez a BIG suhpwize.”

Side note:  Is anyone else having problems uploading pictures?  Or is it just me?

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