pole dancing?

It's not what you think! Last week I had this conversation with Camden:

Camden: "mom, will you come to my talent show at Eagle Ridge on Friday?"

Me: "Of course, what will you be doing in the talent show?"

Camden: "Well, we will be dancing around a pole so I guess you call it pole dancing and we will also be pulling strings."

Me: At this point, I was laughing so hard I couldn't even respond. 

So this is what Camden meant when he said pole dancing and pulling strings. 

Another year of blogging

I can't believe that 2010 is almost behind us! At the end of each year I take our years worth of blogging and make it into a printed book thanks to blurb.com. I have used it now for three books, this will be my fourth. Although the books take me several hours to put together, it is all worth it when I get it in the mail. I love the memories these books hold. So I have a few more posts to do so they can be included in my book, so I better get started. I have a little backtracking to do.

We completed our first semester of homeschooling for the school year. We did a few fun projects before Christmas break including this one where the kids decorated a Christmas tree using things we found in the kitchen. They did a great job and had a lot of fun. I thought the boys would find it a bit elementary but they really enjoyed themselves. Anna enjoyed doing some reading while snacking on some popcorn while Camden worked on his writing 8 excercise that he has to do four days a week.

"I couldn't have done it without you mom."

I think this might just be my favorite picture of my daughter and I, it completely melts my heart. It speaks so much to me. The look of peace on her face, the contentment, the cuddling close to me, arms wrapped tight around me. I just love it all. But let me share more. 

 Our day wasn't all full of giggles. In fact, this sweet little muffin and I had a really hard day leading up to our special date night of going to dinner and the Nutracker. We were just "off" this day, not getting along, tempers were flaring, and let me tell you she knows what buttons to push when things aren't going her way or when she is in trouble, which she was most of the day. I know, can you believe this sweet little face of hers was in trouble! For those who have adopted, you might be able to relate to what I'm about to say a little more than others. Even though Annagrace was adopted at 5 months of age, she still had her world completely rattled when she left her country of birth, her foster mom who took such good care of her for 5 months, the sights, the smells, all of it turned upside down in the matter of one airplane trip across the ocean. Getting off the airplane she was placed into the arms of this loving mommy and daddy who were deeply in love with her already but we had never met. Placed in my arms for that first time was AMAZING, BREATHTAKING, JOYFUL, and LIFE CHANGING, but for her I can't even imagine what it must have been like arriving to new smells and sights where everyone talks different, looks different, smells different, that had to have been scary and so confusing. Just to side track for a minute, I believe God gave me a divine appointment with son #2 when he was 5 months old. I was rocking him early in the morning after feeding him and I began to think about adoption. Adoption wasn't even on my radar at the time so I know this was a divine appointment from the Lord because as I rocked him I remember thinking how I couldn't imagine giving up a precious baby let alone send him overseas to another country when he was already bonded with me as his caregiver, and familiar with all his surroundings, it just broke my heart even thinking about it. I remember thinking about what that would do to a baby. I'm so thankful God gave me that moment because it was fresh on my mind the morning we went to meet our daughter for the first time.

 I say all this because you don't go through something like this, even at 5 months old, without being effected in some way by it. Although Annagrace is deeply in love with me as her mommy, and Michael as her daddy, she is fearful and insecure that I might leave her too. She understands she has a birth mom who birthed her and then wasn't able to keep her, she understands she had a foster mom named Mrs. Lee who took wonderful care of her while we were waiting to adopt her. So as she traveled to America at 5 months of age she had not only lost her birth mom, but her caretaker as well that she had had since birth. That's two big losses in the life of a little girl and given the bright and intelligent mind she has, it makes sense that she fears loosing me too. Being 5 years old and feeling these big emotions at times can come out in different ways and they often come out at the most inconvenient times like when we have something bigged planned to do together.

so back to the day of our date, Anna was just having a rough day and her way of dealing with it was by trying to make me feel bad. So when she got in trouble, she would say that she didn't want to go on our date and she wasn't going to wear the cute dress, new tights, and sparkly new red shoes I bought for her. There are times when I handle things appropriately as a mom and there are times when I don't. Let's just say, I didn't make the best mommy decisions on this day. I allowed her comments to peirce my heart and take a hold of me and in return, I acted pretty nasty right back at her. Not so much with my words, but by having some passive behavior towards her which is just as hurtful to her. Anytime I distance myself like that, it makes her grow more insecure. So at my breaking point, I went into my bedroom and got on my knees and prayed. I prayed and pleaded that both of our attitudes would change and that we would be blessed with a happy night together.

 After I prayed, I could feel the atmosphere change and I felt so light hearted and refreshed. Anna then walked into my room and announced that she was ready to put on her dress and her pretty new tights and shoes. God had not only changed my attitude, but hers too. So we got dressed...

 spun around, and took the pictures you see in this post.

So now you can see why picture number one means so much to me. And to top it off, as we were driving home after the Nutracker I told Anna how I was so proud of her that she changed her attitude and went on to have such a good night. Her response melted my heart again, she simply said; "I couldn't have done it without you mom."
Wow, we have come along way. Sometimes it takes a few steps back to step forward leaps and bounds. I'm even more in love with this sweet little girl than I was just a few days ago. I am so blessed and so thankful to be her mommy. God is so good!

Published!

I'm very excited! My article got published in a magazine called The Homeschool Handbook. You can see it by clicking on this link. Once you get there, click the arrow to page 8 and you will see my article, it's titled "Homeschooling: Plan B". I can't wait to get the hard copy in the mail. This is pretty exciting!

Merry Christmas from me!

radomness

The only negative to keeping busy with KandidsbyKorri this time of year is I don't feel like picking my camera up when I'm at home. There have been so many things I've wanted to take pictures of and blog about so tonight was the night, so here we go. This is all very random by the way.

This is a our advent Jesse tree, it's silver and very pretty. I'll expand on it more in another post so this is just a teaser.

 Our first ornament we hung today about the root of Jesse.

 Our big tree is decorated and this is my favorite ornament.

 And these wrapped goodies are part of a tradition we started last year. We have collected an assortment of Christmas books over the years and so we wrap them up, 24 of them and starting on December 1st we open one book per night and read it by our Christmas tree. And on night 24, Christmas eve, we open up a new book. The kids love it and so do mom and dad.

 I told you this would be random. Michael and I climbed into bed the other night and saw this sign that Anna had made. It was a great reminder of where we live.

 You can see the sign in this picture but you can also see that the kids built a fort. Why, oh why do they always choose our room? I have no idea. Maybe it's their sneaky way of forgetting about the clean up part and mom and dad are forced to do the clean up when we go to bed at night.

 This is by far one of my favorite Christmas decorations. I grew up with this in my home and my mom gave it to me a while back. It plays music when you wind it up, it brings me great memories of Christmases growing up. We've never been big on Santa but there is just something very sweet about this Mr. and Mrs. Clause.

 Michael did a great job putting lights on the house, I love the big ones in the car port.

 I have found a new friend, Dunkin Decaf is delicious especially with vanilla creamer. I have had a cup every morning since Thanksgiving, my coffee pot only makes an appearance on Thanksgiving and Christmas but maybe it will become a more permanent fixture in the kitchen. It puts a smile on my face when I wake up, it really doesn't take much to please me.

 What is there to say, I love chocolate especially the peppermint kind.

This cracks me up. This is Anna's blanket. She has three stuffed animals that she calls her BFF's and usually they are not bundled up in her blanket. When I went to say goodnight to her a few nights ago she told me her BFF's were hybernating. They have been like this every since. Anna still sleeps with them, just in this form.

 And last, this reminds me of my grandma Dehn. The smell brings back a flood of memories from her kitchen where we spent a lot of time when growing up. The smell actually makes me want to wash my dishes by hand. I LOVE it!

busy

If your wondering why I haven't been posting much on this blog it's because I have been busy doing this. The goal I set for my photography business for the month of November/early December was 12 photo shoots. With only working on Saturdays and Sundays, this seemed like a fair goal and would allow me to make the amount of money I needed for Christmas shopping without interrupting my family responsibilities too much. I ended up exceeding my goal and booked 15 photo shoots. Even though life has been busy, I have loved every minute of it. I have met some great families, been able to spend time with families I already know and love, and bless people with family pictures. To peak at my work click on the link above and you can see what's been keeping me so busy.