Heatwave Jazz & Show Band

This is going back to RIGHT after the kiddos moved in, but it was a lot of fun!

We had a Club from Coachella Valley come up and perform at our Club for Family Night! We were able to take the kiddos and we had such a fun time!

I got Mr. Tease out on the dance floor and he was all smiles, as was I! As previously mentioned, they were really new to us, so this was such a fun night to experience with them!

Some Stuff in August ...

August was fun ... we did lots of stuff. I'm not going to get wordy and I'll try to let the pictures speak for themselves ... you're welcome!

Wiggler loves to pile us up with her animals ... it's pretty darn cute!

We LOVE Nate's new job! We get to go visit him frequently and the kids love running around, seeing the bears and ringing the very large bell that they have! 

Uh ... I might loves Nate's job more than he does ... and more than the kids do ... look at this adorable dino!! :)

I have a friend who has been using essential oils for the last year or so and every time she finds a new use for them, she posts about them on Instagram. I've been following her posts for a very long time and I got to the point where I just couldn't stand it any more and I got in touch with her! She sent me some samples, I am amazed by how well they work and we have been using oils ever since! I'll do another post on how amazingly they have changed our lives, but just let it be known that we are loving them!

A very messy day making cloud dough! We were ALL covered, as was the kitchen, and it was so much fun!

Riverside Park is one of our favorite places in the summer! It is absolutely gorgeous!!

Riverside Park is one of our favorite places in the summer! It is absolutely gorgeous!!

We had a great afternoon t the Family Fun Center in Medford!

We had a great afternoon t the Family Fun Center in Medford!

As you can see, our lives pretty much revolve around these two kiddos right now, which we are totally fine with! :)

One Time I Went on a Boat

So this blog is SO ridiculously behind, but I'm going to do my best to get it caught up or at least up to date so that I can start the New Year fresh! We've been doing a lot of fun, awesome stuff and this is the only "journal" that I am currently keeping, so I'm trying to re-dedicate myself to it because life is just going to get busier and more memories will be being made!

So, lots of mini posts will be headed this way.

Back in August (sigh) we left the Club early and headed out on my co-workers boat at Galesville Reservoir. We had a boat donated to the Club that needed to be tested, so we took that one out as well. My job this year has been really, quite stressful. There has been a lot going on, mostly positive, some negative (not with me directly but it has had an effect on everyone) and it seemed like the summer was never going to end.

Being able to take an afternoon and spend on the lake with a few of my co-workers was just the fun and relaxation that I needed to be able to jump into the new school year and have some renewed energy!

... a long long time ago ...

in a month, far far away ...

seriously. where does time go? how is it that we are so exhausted at the end of the day? every once in a while i'll look at these blogs and i'll tell myself that it won't be hard to catch up, but seriously ... march? the last time i posted was in march? SO much has happened over the last 6 months and it breaks my heart that i've been so busy and that i haven't been dedicated to recording it ... so yes, i'm backtracking .... again ...

the big thing is that we accepted two sweet children into our lives! mr. tease & wiggler came to stay with us mid-march. we had done respite care for them twice prior to them moving in with us and to be honest, we fell in love with them the minute that we met them. the first time we sent them back after our first respite weekend we were heartbroken. little did we know they would be coming to live with us! it has now been 6 months and even though we are continually exhausted and using energy from places that we never knew existed, we are having so much fun with them!

our life has been wrapped up in them so most of this will be generic pictures, but we do try to get some "us" time as time allows. here are a few things that we did in april:

easter 2015

this was awesome. it was our first easter with kids in the home and it was so sweet! our plans for our easter egg hung were foiled by the sour weather, but after wiggler's nap we decided to head down to medford for the afternoon - we did a little shopping, we ate dinner at red robin and even though taking these two to a restaurant was very stressful, we are glad that we were able to go and create those memories with the kids!

oh ... and nate made this ... because he's awesome ...

enjoying spring

oh my goodness, we had such a beautiful spring! so many flowers and so many awesome weathered days! we spent a lot of time at our near by parks and playing outside. another of our trees blossomed absolutely gorgeously and we enjoyed every second of the petals as they flowered!

taste of the rogue

it's so weird to think that i have been at my job long enough to experience our biggest event of the year a second time. this event is always stressful, always crazy and always wonderful. it is so amazing to watch the community join in one very large room and to see them volunteer to spend their money so that we can fulfill our mission and take care of the kids in our community. the weeks leading up to the event mean long, long hours and a lot of time with my co-workers. the bonding that takes place during this event is awesome and i look forward to it every year! we ended up using respite for the kids so that nate could join me at the event and he even came over and volunteered his time to help set up (what a great guy)! we missed them like crazy, but i was able to fulfill my duties and we were both able to relax a little during the weekend.

mothering

in an effort to give nate a little break from the kids i took them down to ashland for the earth day celebration at science works. i met up with a couple of friends down there and aside from not being used to chasing two kids with such different ages around and being completely exhausted when we got home, we had a great day. i managed to not loose either of the kids and they had a great time too. mr. tease was disappointed when it was time to go home, i suppose that means it was a great time.

and there you have our month of april ... in a nutshell ...

... This is Happening ...

Believe it or not, I'm actually updating our blog ABOUT March on the LAST day of March.

I know. Miracles never cease.

Actually, you can blame this nasty virus that I have. Because of it I'm required to stay up another 30 minutes before I can take more medicine to put me to sleep. Everyone else in the house is sleeping, or attempting to (in Nate's case) and I needed a "quite time" activity - alas, here I am (with some gummy bears at my side - I love those things so much)!

Anyway - March has been a crazy good whirlwind of a month! On March 14th we welcomed two new kiddos to our home - a 6 year old boy, who we refer to as Mr. Tease, and his 19 month old sister, who we have dubbed Wiggler and/or Tiny Tornado - both are very, very fitting! We are LOVING having them here and feel so blessed to be having such a wonderful experience this time around. We are keeping up our "Operation Freckles" blog that talks more about our Foster Parent journey, so feel free to check it out to learn more about these two amazing little people that are in our lives right now!

Here are some other things that happened in March!

A Ukulele Club was started up for the kiddos at work. I joined in the first few classes to take some pictures and ended up learning how to play a few chords as well - I'm pretty sure I need a Ukulele now ...

The first weekend of the month I was able to head up to Galice Lodge with my work ladies - we spent the night and had a wonderful time talking & laughing and scraping logos off of hundreds of wine glasses to use at our upcoming events! I'm so grateful for these women!

Nate & I finished up our "official" Foster Parent Certification. When Freckles was placed with us we were provisionally certified to have her in our care. Now we are certified for any child(ren) that may come along. We told DHS that we are open to babies because we had so much fun doing respite for Mr. Tease & Wiggler before they came to live with us! This is a picture that I texted to my friend as Nate & I were pricing all the big ticket baby items that we'll need to have in our arsenal! Luckily, when Mr. Tease & Wiggler moved in, we were able to purchase most of what we needed from another Foster Family at a VERY reasonable price.

Our crazy talented friend at work made this bowl in his pottery class and thought that we would like it! This picture doesn't do it justice, it's pretty darn amazing!

My boss got a baby Miniature Labradoodle on Valentine's Day and she gets to come to the office most days! Snuggling this sweet puppy definitely takes the stress level down on those days when there is too much to do (i.e. non-profit life all the time).

Nate & I celebrated our 15 year anniversary! It was pretty low key because I had to work, but he surprised me with these gorgeous flowers! There are no words to describe how in love with this man I am - I'm so grateful for him and for the relationship that we have built together. He truly is my best friend, the love of my life, my soul mate!

Shortly after our anniversary I came down with a viral infection - it has had me "down" for going on 3 weeks now. I have made two trips to Instacare, missed work, had many sleepless nights thanks to the horrible cough that is accompanying the rest of the symptoms and have just felt outright miserable. Taking in two little people during this time has not helped my recovery, but there is no way we would go back and change it. I feel like I'm FINALLY starting to come out of it, but as I'm typing this, I hear Nate coughing in the other room - I only hope and pray that he doesn't get it as bad as I do. He's already had it once this year, I sure hope he doesn't have to suffer through it again.

There is something that I love about this picture so much. This was last week - we were both exhausted after a long day with the kiddos and I was feeling like I had been hit by a bus - we were snuggling and talking and Nate fell asleep - I took advantage of my "selfie cam" so that I could snap this.

Spring time is here! This GORGEOUS tree is hanging over our driveway and every single day I marvel at it's beauty as I pull in and out of the garage. The town is riddled with beautiful blooming trees and it makes my heart and my eyes happy - although our allergies aren't liking it so much ...

Today is the last day of March. I don't know where this year has gone, but it is sure going by quickly. I feel that I have so much to be grateful for. Life is not without it's struggles and it took us several months to recover from what happened with Freckles, but I feel so blessed to be able to recognize the silver linings and to keep my positive attitude at the forefront of everything that I do.

Great Interstate

Back in January, Nate & I went on a date in Medford to the "Great Interstate" Concert! This concert was super exciting to us because his cousin, Tate, came with his band from Salt Lake and played! It was so much fun to meet up with Tate and although our visit with him was short, it was good to see family!

His band was amazing and we had a great time!

Back in December ...

Back in December my parents came for Christmas! We had some fun times and I didn't want to skip over blogging it, so I'm catching up ... AGAIN. It seems like it's all I do these days.

Anyway! Yes, my parents came for Christmas! The anticipation leading up to their visit was huge and I was so excited to pick them up in Eugene! We had a wonderful few days together! They enjoyed seeing more of where we live and meeting Freckles, and we enjoyed their company and playing cards!! :)

They're here!!

Our Christmas Eve Drive around GP to see the Christmas Lights!

Christmas Morning!

Nate & Freckles having some candy cane fun!

The PERFECT gooey roll!

The resurrection of "Phublathan."

A Christmas Morning selfie!

Wherever my dad goes, NOEL gets turned into Leon!

Ahh! A proper game of Hand & Foot!

And it's a win for the ladies!

Showing off our beautiful Rogue River!

A walk downtown for lunch at the Laughing Clam & to see the giant Christmas Tree!

Some of my favorite treats from Logan!

We spent an afternoon with them at the Great Cat World Park (because we're in love with the animals that reside there) and it was a very fun day!

A rare sweet moment!

I'm so grateful for my parents and that they came for a visit. Traveling during the holidays has always been a resounding "NO" for my mom, so the fact that they came over Christmas was a huge gesture of love and caring and I'm so grateful to know that no matter what, they have my back. Their visit fell during some of our roughest times that we had with Freckles and having them here made me feel safe and somehow not as terrified of this little girl who had taken over our home.

Freckles has since been reunited with her bio-mom. The transition came exactly when we needed it to and not a day too soon - we have seen her a couple of times since she went home and are happy to report that she is doing well. We are cautiously optimistic that their little family will continue to grow and learn together and that we can play the role of friends and supporters in her life.