Four Years Ago This Week...

We're so thankful that her heart is healthy now and that she's slowly healing from all her sweet little heart had to endure in its first few years.

The beautiful and spitting image of her birth mother and grandmother, we love to see her smiling face now, hear her laughter, enjoy her sense of humor, and receive her abundant hugs and kisses.

Use What You've Got

In January, I like to do a few weeks of cooking based around everything that's already in our pantry and freezer to use up old supplies.  Here's what we had from January 7 to 26.

Tex-Mex veggie soup for which I already had all ingredients on hand.

We had spaghetti from a box with marinara from a jar.  Not picture-worthy, but already in our pantry.

For the pork roast, I just had to buy carrots.

Beans and rice for which I only purchased the cilantro, avocado and lime.

Salad with all ingredients newly procured in our weekly shopping trips.  We had salad three times.

Chicken, mashed potatoes and corn dinner ingredients were all in our home already.

The tater tot and broccoli casserole was not a favorite, but I only had to buy eggs to make it happen.

For the Moroccan sweet potato and lentil stew, I only purchased the sweet potatoes.

The cheddar and nut quesadillas just wanted some salsa and sour cream from the store.  And if you're wondering, yes, I do like to put sour cream on a lot of things.

We had strip steak and baked potatoes for which I didn't need to buy any ingredients and of which I got no photo because the steaks had basically been eaten before I had unwrapped the baked potatoes and put fixings on them.  So much for letting your meat rest.

One day we lucked into plentiful leftovers of Mexican food from Craig's conference at work.  And another day we had turkey breast and stuffing our grocer had on clearance.

We used the turkey leftovers to make soup for which we just needed carrots and parsley.

And then we had German night with Thueringer Knoedel, fried onions and sausage. I had to buy the sausage.

We had another German dish called Milchreis.  It's a childhood favorite of mine, a sweet in-between risotto and rice pudding.  Ella also really enjoys it and tops hers with frozen blueberries.  Just had to buy milk.

And we had two nights of leftovers, odds and ends, sandwiches etc.  No purchase necessary.

So at the end of these three weeks, our pantry and freezer are nice and empty.  Our grocery budget for all meals in that time frame (breakfasts, lunches, dinners, snacks, desserts) was about $450.  That's $4.50 per person per day and really quite good, especially given how much organic, dairy and gluten free we buy.

Florida Sorta Fail

Back in November, Craig and I decided that it would be nice to get away to some warmer temps after the Christmas holidays and before the kids went back to school in the new year.  So we booked tickets to go to Florida's gulf shore - right where Craig's mom lives - to get out of the winter for a few days.

Unfortunately, our plan didn't work out very well as the big freeze reached all the way down to the Gulf of Mexico and kept the daytime highs in windy 40s, nights below freezing for our first three days.  Nonetheless, we enjoyed the company, did a lot of fun indoor stuff (like card games), were well fed, and had a couple of milder playground hours, but it sure would have been nice to get outside more and soak up some sun (of which there was plenty) and shed a layer of clothing.

At the fish market...
Craig's mom made coconut shrimp for him

At the National Naval Aviation Museum

At a large toy train display

Our final day was much milder with lots of sun and no wind, so the kids got to play in Grandma's back yard ... and I do mean that literally.

Craig and Rex on a beach walk

Building sand castles

Thanks, Grandma and Tom, for a great little Southern getaway.

IAC 411 - 414 Results

The following referrals were issued in IAC Session 411 which was held on November 2, 2017:

1) Spanish dossier from June 2011 referred a female child aged 3 years and 10 months

2) Italian dossier from October 2012 referred a female child aged 2 years and 2 months with features in health status and a family history

3) French dossier from November 2013 referred a male child aged 9 years and 8 months

4) French dossier from January 2014 referred a male child aged 1 year and 8 months with features in health status and a family history

5) French dossier from February 2015 referred a brother and sister aged 3 years and 9 months & 6 years and 3 months with features in health status and a family history

6) US dossier from October 2015 referred a male child aged 2 years and 7 months with features in health status

7) Italian dossier from December 2016 referred a brother and sister aged 12 years and 6 months & 9 years and 6 months

8) Italian dossier from August 2017 referred waiting siblings (#3290 & #3292 & #3293) with profiles on the MOJ site

9) US dossier from October 2017 referred a waiting child (#3342) with a profile on the MOJ site

10) US dossier from October 2017 referred two waiting siblings (#2558 & #2559) with profiles on the MOJ site

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The following referrals were issued in IAC Session 412 which was held on November 16, 2017:

1) Dutch dossier from December 2011 referred a male child aged 2 years and 8 months with features in health status

2) Spanish dossier from August 2014 referred a male child aged 2 years and 10 months with features in health status

3) US dossier from June 2015 referred sisters aged 1 year and 2 months with features in health status

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The following referrals were issued in IAC Session 413 which was held on November 23, 2017:

1) Italian dossier from September 2011 referred a male child aged 5 years and 3 months

2) Dutch dossier from February 2012 referred a brother and sister aged 6 years and 1 month & 4 years and 5 months

3) Italian dossier from January 2013 referred a male child aged 5 years and 8 months with features in health status

4) French dossier from June 2013 referred a female child aged 7 years and 11 months with a family history

5) Italian dossier from July 2013 referred a male child aged 1 year and 7 months with features in health status

6) Italian dossier from March 2015 referred brothers aged 6 years and 3 months & 8 years and 7 months with a family history

7) Italian dossier from August 2017 referred sisters aged 10 years and 1 month & 7 years and 5 months

8) US dossier from November 2017 referred two waiting siblings (#3251 & #3272) with profiles on the MOJ site

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The following referrals were issued in IAC Session 414 which was held on November 30, 2017:

1) French dossier from December 2012 referred a female child aged 1 year and 5 months with a family history

2) French dossier from February 2013 referred a male child aged 5 years and 2 months with a family history

3) US dossier from August 2013 referred a male child aged 1 year and 11 months with a family history

4) US dossier from September 2013 referred a male child aged 1 year and 8 months with features in health status and a family history

5) Italian dossier from March 2015 referred a female child aged 2 years with features in health status

6) US dossier from October 2015 referred a female child aged 2 years with features in health status

7) US dossier from November 2017 referred a waiting child (#3301) with a profile on the MOJ site

8) Italian dossier from November 2017 referred waiting siblings (#3464 & #3465 & #3466) with profiles on the MOJ site

Happy New Year

Wishing all of you a healthy, joyous 2018.

Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow. 

- Albert Einstein -

Christmas Through The Rearview Mirror

Christmas is behind us... I am thankful in many ways because this season can be hard for our special children.  Still, we try to make it fun and hold fast to the traditions we have established for this time of year in our family.

We started the season with the Festival of Lights at the zoo...

... attended the annual Christmas party at our local children's hospital...

... decorated "gingerbread" trees...

... had some fun at Christmas in Loveland...

... enjoyed our Christmas Eve picnic...

... had someone receive her reward for the completion of 500 home school hours...

... and went back to the zoo one more time...

Here are my two favorite photos from the season...

Girl selfie at a brunch with a friend

My not so little littles

Here's to the memories!

Home School Holiday Week

Ella's winter break started four days before her siblings'.  For those four days we had great plans:

Ms. Claus helped prep the cinnamon rolls...

... which then waited in the freezer for Christmas morning

We even had time to make "fake lavash"

Pajama breakfast with her tutor

Obviously we should keep our day jobs...

Ella's home school holiday week also included her first poker lesson from her dad, making a garland for the tree, several Christmas movies, play time with neighborhood friends, and singing Christmas songs to her heart's content.  It was a much needed slower pace for the both of us and gave us a chance to spend some quality mother daughter time.