Treats, Pumpkins, & Costumes...Oh My!

Some favorite photos from the past week.

Both girls brought treats into their respective classes. Jami got to decorate tiny cupcakes & Lindsi got larger ones

Jami with her treats....


Lindsi with her treats......


Grandpa helped carve the pumpkins this year.....(the girls with Grandma & Grandpa)


A job well done!


Jami as Tinker Bell


Jami, Emma, & Lindsi waiting to go trick or treating (with either the Gavin or Ian Star Ways clone in the background...I'm not sure which). Don't Lindsi's legs look
L O N G in this picture??

*UPDATED* Going Solo??

I am so silly.....

I RSVP'd for the birthday party & asked the mom to call me, so I'd have an idea what the birthday party would be like. She didn't. So, I pawned off Jami on my parents for the afternoon & Lindsi & I set out. I was of the mind that I was going to stay, since most everyone I talked to said, if it were me, I'd stay.

(Side note...growing up, I don't remember EVER going to a birthday party or BEING at a birthday party where parents stayed, starting around age 5. Really underscores the different world we live in today).

So, we get there & it is like Family Fest in the backyard. Birthday Invitees & siblings are running around the yard, jumping on the trampoline & bobbing for apples. The moms are all gathered together at a pool side table eating fresh shrimp & other yummy appetizers, drinking diet cokes.

I have to admit, I'm in Culture Shock this year with Lindsi's class. Last year, for kindergarten, we had a great experience. The teacher was kind, loving, & encouraging. But, the class was very easy academically. The teacher did not encourage volunteers, because most of the students had parents who could not or would not volunteer & she did not think it fair if the same two or three parents showed up for everything. Very low socio economic class & parental involvement.

This year, Lindsi vaulted to the top 1st grade class. Most of these kids moved as a unit from the top kindergarten class. I think only 2 of us have "the new" kids. These are the parents with SAHMs, the parents who are at the school 3, 4 even 5 days a week, helping in classrooms, library, reading labs. They know every child and all of the teachers by first name. I feel a little like a circle trying to fit into a square hole.

One of the moms befriended me early on, she already knew & liked Lindsi. She's bubbly & friendly & knows everybody. We arrived at the same time, so she took me over & introduced me to the other moms.....(2 others at the table happen to be Debbies)...

First it was the general concensus that it was so wonderful that their kids were being exposed to sign language (Lindsi has use of an interpreter)...ect...
Then one mom asked if Lindsi was born deaf & I told her I really wasn't sure. Someone else piped up about newborn hearing screenings...how could I not know? Didn't she have one??

I told them, that Lindsi was adopted.....one mom on the edge of the conversation turned around...ADOPTED??? Which child in the class is ADOPTED??? Well, Lindsi is adopted, from China...OHH.........
Then, the mom I know the best, (I think to move the conversation along) said...and she has her sister!!!!! AMAZING!!! What are the chances that you could go back & get her sister??? I think it is so INCREDIBLE!!! To which I felt I had to say, well, they are sisters now, but they are not biologically related.....!
Another round of WHAT??!! But, they look so much alike!!
That was all in the first 5 minutes of sitting down.

I never offered up that I'm a single mom...=) I'm sure that hasn't occurred to anyone. I felt like we are already the talk of the class, without adding that little bonus tid bit. To be clear, everyone is nice, the kids all great, we just have so little in common with them. I have been around too many adoptive families as our social network & I guess I had not really been around people so out of touch about adoption before this.

They were all talking about what teacher the "class" will likely get next year. I'm not even certain we will be in "The Class" next year. I think we really belong somewhere between the two....for all kinds of reasons.......=)

More Pumpkin Patch Photos

Look what we found in the pumpkin patch this week....

A lot of these....



Several of these.....



Many of these, old friends like Harvey, who is 84 yrs young....




But definately, only ONE of these....a Grandpa with 5 of his 7 grandkids...

Going Solo???

Calling all parents of 1st graders.....
Opinion,.....do you drop your 6 yr old at a birthday party, where you don't know the parents?

I think we are getting to the age of drop off birthday parties. Lindsi was invited to one of her classmates birthday parties. I think probably the whole calss, or at least all of the girls were invited, since the invite came home in her school folder.

At daycare, we routinely skipped the class invite parties & opted only to go to the parties of the kids we knew well.

Lindsi was excited about being invited to this party. I want to help her foster good friendships with the kids at school. I like that she was included. We don't live in the same school zone ( Lindsi attends her current school because the deaf / HOH services are based there), & it is hard to socialize with the kids outside of school.

I guess when I RSVP, I'll see what the party plan is.....
I don't think I have any concerns about her safety, just whether or not she can successfully navigate the social situation, on her own, with her language skills.

I sound like a way too over protective mom...lol....

So folks, what age do / did you just drop kids off at birthday parties where you don't know the other family????

A Few Friday Bullets

* Ha! To all who thought I'd have a third cat by now, I am happy to report that after feeding young mommy cat one time.....she hasn't come back. Maybe she doesn't care for our brand of cat food....=)

* We should finally feel some fall like 70 degree weather this weekend...Yea!!

* We have a dance performance, a birthday party, & old family friends visiting from Germany this weekend. We should be sufficiently busy!

* Jami has had a cold, which settled right into her eyes. I thought at first she was getting pink eye, but she didn't. However, every morning this week, I've had to bathe her eyes with warm water in order to remove the gunk enough so she can open them. So every morning I hear her call me...Mom..I can't see..come get my eye gunk.....Lovely...

* Finally...I don't know how to upload this (& maybe it's not even possible), but if you want to see the BEST video clip of the week, click here:
(You might need to copy it to your Browser)

http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/26184891/vp/27236549#27236549

October Pumpkins!

If it's Oct, we must be at the beach! We went to the beach on Sat & met a BLOG friend, Amy & her daughter Amelia. They were visiting the Mouse House for Amelia's 4th birthday.

We had a very nice visit until Jami hit her 3 yr old wall. It wasn't a pleasant departure. On the up side, Jami slept all the way home!

On Sun we spent part of the afternoon at the pumpkin patch. Since our church does the patch as a fundraiser, we are there A LOT in Oct.

These are probably just the first in a series of Pumpkin Pathch pics this year.

A little stroll down Memory Lane...

This pic was taken in 2006, about 10 days after Jami came home from China!


Pumpkin Patch 2007


Pumpkin Patch 2008


Jami in 2008..3.5 yrs old


Lindsi in 2008 6.5 yrs old


More to come, I promise....=)

I Was TAGGED

My new blog friend, Lisa, Tagged me. Do you know what that means? It means I need to come up with an unusual or weird fact X 7(!!!) to share with my Blog readers. But, first, be sure to go by & read her very funny blog postings. Just this week she covered topics as diverse as semi-large families to how to tell if your dog is obese (which was hilarious & you have to read the comments on that because it gets even funnier).

OK..so 7 (Boring) and Weird or Unusual facts about me.......

1. Since Lisa wrote that she sort of learned some German off a CD, I will reveal that I was actually born in Germany. Frankfurt to be in exact. So, in my immediate little family, NONE of us were born in the Good Ole USA & yet we are all now USA citizens.

2. I graduated in the top 10% of my high school class. Of 332 students, I was #32.
Before you think I was SMART, just know that I took a few AP classes, but I was not considered National Honor Society material.

3. When I was in China & could not communicate with the Chinese, I would habitually try to use ASL (American Sign Language) to emphasize my message. I looked ridiculous. Most Americans don't understand ASL.....how come I thought that would just clear up my message with the Chinese?

4. This past Wed, I helped our church unload 2500 (felt like most were GI-NORMOUS) pumpkins, for our annual pumpkin patch. In the pouring rain. Then I came home, parked the girls in front of a Disney movie, took a shower, climbed into my PJs, took a few Advil, sent the girls to bed & fell alseep on the couch by 9:30.

5. I like to cook when I have time. When I have to bring food anywhere, I very rarely bring something routine. I always use potluck occasions to make something new & have other people try out, while I anonymously listen to their comments. If it's getting good reviews, I'll own up that its mine. If it's bad, I can just agree...Oh yeah...what silly person thought mayo jello would go over well at a kids birthday party??? NOTE: I have NEVER made Mayo Jello!!!!

6. Fact #6...I don't even LIKE mayonnaise!

7. My 6 yr old is very neat & organized. Her room puts the rest of the house to shame. She uses something & automatically puts it right away. I'm hoping her good habits will rub off on me, but so far, nothing....nadda...

This is so much harder than it seems.....

I am going to tag:

Valerie from (D)rivvel Supp Martin Family

Amy from Cherishing the Chunster

Donna from Lena and Macey

Jenna from The Life Of A Working Mom

Pam (my sister, who is really funny, but hardly ever blogs) from Inside the life of a PTO mom