Schools Out!!

Woohoo!! I thought it would never happen! But it's true. The kids are out on summer break!

We managed to do another year of homeschooling even while taking two foster placements!

 I can't tell you how good that feels.

Right now I'm working on finishing up the portfolios and running baby to visits. She has also recently been doing some therapist visits and has started teething! Busy girl! Soccer is just about over for the season and hopefully our weekends will slow down here. I'm really hoping to get some geocaching and other fun family activities in! So far I am loving the warm weather here. The Sunday before Memorial Day our church had a big picnic on the church lawn. It was just perfect. I'm a summer girl at heart and after a very long winter it was so nice to be outside enjoying a cookout. Looking forward to many more!

Oh how I love summer days!!

Life and Portfolio's

Wow life has been busy around here lately. We have soccer three days a week, church, homeschool, hanging out with friends and a new baby around who requires multiple visitations a week...... It leaves little time for blogging. I haven't forgotten about you, really! There is hope though. Summer break is almost here! Ah the time out from homeschooling!

Speaking of homeschooling....it's time for me to get on the ball with my homeschool portfolio's. This is my second year of doing them and I still don't really have an organized system. I started out at the beginning of the year doing great. I kept putting things in the binder each week. But I quit around October. Yep I haven't put anything in it since then and haven't even started going through everything. If anyone has any portfolio tips at all feel free to share! I could use the help for sure.

And because every blog post needs a cute picture....

Warm weather love. ❤

Dandelions and Birth Moms

One part of the foster care life that I have been a little nervous about is meeting the bio relatives. In my mind I have always pictured it as a scary event. I was uncertain what I would say or do.

I'm not a very good talker in awkward situations. I get nervous and stubble over my words and all that fun stuff...while I have gotten better about it I was not looking forward to the day that I meet the bio's. But recently at one of our foster daughters visitations I was asked right before walking in if I would like to meet some of the family. They were inside and wanted to meet me.

 So I said yes.

I said yes!!

 And it wasn't bad at all. They seemed very nice and I'm glad that I got the chance to say hi. They didn't share my name, just said that I was foster mom. We just said the typical nice to meet you's and they thanked me for taking care of Baby. I feel relieved to know a big scary part in my mind is over and wasn't scary at all.

 In this case anyways...there's always next Foster's bio's. They could be scary.

But for now I feel like "I've got this" about the whole foster thing. Ever part is scary the first time. The first class, the first placement, the first visit and so on. But with God's help we are doing it.

 We are fostering and loving it!

As for the dandelions. We have been enjoying some beautiful weather and making lots of wishes.....

Baby B

Just thought I would give you guys an update on Baby B. She is still with us and looks like she may be here for awhile. The next court will be sometime in July. So until then she will most likely stay with us. Of course with foster care you can never be sure.... but we are loving every minute. If one day she returns home we will be happy for her and will miss her. And if things don't go that direction and parental rights are terminated we would love to be her forever family. One day at a time right now. Enjoying the journey.

Crayon sculptures and spring break

Want a fun activity to do with your kids while they are on spring break? A few weeks ago I saw these crayon sculptures on Pinterest. The kids were very excited to try it. All you need is a fresh box of crayons per kid and a hot glue gun. You may also want to find a cardboard scrap to glue your sculpture on. Just start randomly gluing crayons to each other building them up until you reach the desired size. Lots of fun and super cute in a kids bedroom or in a home school room!

Also some spring break pictures...

The comments

One part of getting a new foster child is the looks and comments you get when out in your community. People that have seen you shopping in their stores or talking walks wonder how you got that baby.

 

My favorite so far was while taking a walk in the neighborhood I heard two ladies talking on their porch. One said "I didnt even know she was pregnant!". To which her friend replied " Oh I figured she was since I haven't seen her out for awhile." It was pretty amusing. I kinda wanted to march up their driveway and explain myself...but I refrained. There were also the situations in stores where I was busy shopping and didn't really want to explain but people kept trying to figure out the situation and I have to tell them that we were fostering. That is usually followed up by either the whole "Oh I could never do that" line or (the one I like better) "I will be praying!".

We also get the typical new baby comments "She is so adorable!" "What a sweet baby!" and my favorite "She looks just like your husband!".

Point of this post...if you feel like having some interesting conversations with strangers you should think about fostering!

Baby Feet

Just because :)
 

Were fostering again!

That's right! Were foster parents again. This time to a tiny baby girl. The day started off with me finding a ladybug and sending hubby a picture of it. We found a ladybug the morning of our first placement as well. By that afternoon I had gotten the call about a possible placement and by that evening we were visiting the baby in the hospital and shopping for baby things. We picked her up from the hospital the next day. She's little, and sweet, and were are having fun taking care of her for however long it lasts.