Tuesday, September 13, 2011

Bad, bad blogger lady...

Heard this comment recently. Guilty as charged!

Back to school this year did not hold up to the positive promise seen on the first day. As a matter of fact it has been excruciatingly painful. Not a place to discuss the details and no quick fixes looming so I may continue to be a "bad, bad blogger lady" for the foreseeable future )-:  Life for girls with traumatic histories who have difficulty seeing the future sometimes gets too overwhelming...for the parents as well as the child!

We are working very, very actively towards healing and happiness. The 9/11 anniversary did not help matters....

On Friday, September 9th both of the girls came home from school rather upset at conversations and lessons that had occurred regarding the events of  that day. I am a crier. Literally I can cry at ANYTHING!!! Olympic commercials, Super Bowl commercials, reality TV shows....you name it and I've probably shed a tear or ten. Soooooo, me talking to two distressed little girls about a horrific event would surely mean tears so I took a deep breath and made a HUGE decision............

There was no TV on at our house this past weekend. Girls played outside on their scooters and bikes until the sunset. We made a very conscious decision to avoid all things 9/11! In the exact words of "we are not strong enough at this moment to handle more sorrow or sadness" we all agreed to let this anniversary pass....without us....

So when Sunday morning dawned gorgeously warm and sunny we did what we do well...... TRADITIONS!!!  Into the car we piled and off we drove to the ORCHARD (-:  It is still a week too early to actually go out among the trees to pick the apples but the 'Barn' was open and we were looking for our Pumpkin Butter and cider doughnut fix!!  Enjoy a few pictures from the day...



Auntie Peggy came with us too (-;

The girls even wore matching outfits and posed willingly for pictures!?!?


Auntie Peggy has some great ideas and the very wonderful results are still on her memory card in her camera because we have just been too busy to swap files just yet!

 I mean, really!!! They sat touching each other...on rocks...and smiled!?!?! It was a day made positive ON PURPOSE by all who participated (-:


 We started out the day with our cider doughnut fix.


They really, really, genuinely will put a smile on your face they are so darn delicious!!

The day was about as perfect as could be in the weather department.

One girl was still working on her new metal free smile (-:

 I was getting in touch with my Mommy Dearest persona...no, not really!!!


 A hundred times or more my littlest lady commented on how glad she was that we had decided to make the trek to the orchard...and I'm thinking the color Google image printouts I had on my sewing machine that night with "What I want to be for Halloween" printed on them were the result of browsing in the Barn's Halloween section.


Waaaaay inside joke here!!! {Hint, someone's first American food addiction!]

 Julia with the smaller half of the haul...Mari had a whole bushel FULL of treats we just could NOT pass up but that would be one of the pictures still on Auntie Peggy's camera.


 The cat that ate the mouse smiles as they watched the cashier ring up treat after treat!


 More posing for pictures..


 ...and even more posing..


 My favorite one of the day!!


 Then I had this brilliant idea...let's stop by a corn field and take some pictures.... they cooperated beautifully if less than impressed with the brilliance of the idea!


 Half of the fun of the day is being able to look at these pictures and realize just how the narrative does NOT match the recorded image! The lovely cooperative smile covering the clenched teeth as she hisses, "Hurry up! I don't want to get a tick...and there might be field mice by my feet!!!"


....and the "This is so dorky Mom!" said through a plastered on smile. Not that they were not genuinely smiling and happy...because they were!! It is just that at this age you get the running commentary offered ventriloquist style so they don't have to do any 'retakes'.

We will be going again in a few weeks. Still need our actual apple picking fix....WITH the cousins this time! Traditions have a wonderful duality of function sometimes. Mostly we use ours to create happy memories for the future. This time we used the happy memories of visits past as a balm to soothe aching souls and help us move forward...to make more happy memories to have in our 'tradition bank' to draw on should the need arise again. While some traditions just happily fall into place...sometimes you need to go to the conscious effort to MAKE the tradition happen!

Tuesday, September 6, 2011

Confessions of a undisciplined blogger...

I've hinted once or twice that I am not particularly known for my orderly and disciplined virtues.....because frankly I do not have ANY! I am a bundle of ideas and the queen of getting the ball rolling...then I get my adult onset ADD and wander off to the next idea....

But dear reader...or both of you who are left these days, I have not purposely been neglecting you! I have been a flurry of business since school claimed my children back for the daytime hours. I have finally gotten back into the sewing room (-:  I've got the Halloween batch up on Etsy and am working on more adoption themed outfits with my Christmas prints pulled out and in the queue. Here's a few of the things I've been playing with;












These and the fact that out of the blue my Guatlinda II dress was 'found' by a group of adoptive mothers on a FB page I belong to and overnight I had EIGHT orders!!! The account for the birth families food deliveries should be looking less sickly and none too soon with the holiday season approaching.

Now I did venture out of the salt mine once or twice of late. I would have been voted off the Mommy island if I did not keep this morning's appointment...


Yes, it involved Mari....and the last time you will see her smile like this!


Because today was THE DAY!! Brackets and wires were removed...


Ready to be disposed of and replaced by...



Well OF COURSE she chose pink and purple for her retainers!?!?!?


Seeing as she is still a teen we did opt for the permanent retainer behind the lower teeth and he has one on the upper...temporarily but today we begin the new phase! Can you hear me now...."Mari, where is your retainer and why is it not in your mouth???" ...because I pretty darn sure I will be saying that with a high degree of frequency!!


But today is all about admiring the new smile....


and more mirror action...


and more mirror action!!! If my camera had not been tucked safely in my bag at the moment I would even have a shot of her bent checking her new smile out in my side view mirror as we headed back out to the car....and the mirror in the elevator....and the front window of the post office...and the side view mirror again as she got out at school....

 
But wouldn't you if that was the gorgeous face that looked back at you from the mirror?!?!?