So different, and yet...

As a teacher, I noticed the differences between boys and girls pretty early on.  I even had a kiddo offer a commentarty, "Boys and girls are so different, and they expect us to grow up and get married?  It's crazy!"  Of course with my own little social experiment (The A Babies), I noticed this to be sooooooo true!  We even had LOTS of gender neutral toys and it didn't matter!  Once Annabelle got into dolls...  Sure, Andrew would play dolls, but that consisted of him bashing a baby against the toybox or putting her face down on the floor and scooting her around like a car.  Annabelle would play cars with Andrew, but she always made a "situation" out of it.  Andrew would be crashing cars all over the place and she would be trying to organize the "errands" the "mommies" inside the cars would be going on after they stopped by the "dealership" to get their cars fixed.  Hilarious right?!
As of age 6, not much has changed...  Or has it...
Annabelle rides her bike in front of the house "crusier style", just fast enough to keep from falling over, but not so fast as to not allow her to have a conversation with anyone who will listen (I just don't know where she gets it).  Andrew is with his buddies throwing toys into the street so that they will break into a million pieces.  SOOOO DIFFERENT!!  Until we were in the car yesterday.
Andrew: Mom, I see land!!
Annabelle: (Rolling her eyes) Andrew, we are ON THE LAND, so of course we can see land everywhere.
Andrew: (Rolling his eyes) It's called using your imagaination Annabelle, you should try it sometime.

So yes they are different, but sarcasm cuts both ways!

Have you ever thought about?

Have you ever taken the time to think about the way your family was formed?  I think about it a lot since we do do a lot of adoption paperwork and they kind of make you think about it, analyze it, categorize it, reflect on it and think about it some more.  Sometimes the pressure is almost unbearable.  Someone gave me these sweet babies to ruin  um, raise.  It's like I sometimes feel like I have an invisible birth mom looking over my shoulder making sure I am doing a good job.  It's maddening!!!  I obsess about everything they eat and do and wear because I want it all to be perfect.
Then, times like tonight happen.  I was reading stories with Andrew and Annabelle after Benjamin had gone to bed.  We ran out of books and I sent Andrew for another one.  He walked to the book nook, turned around and said, "I sure love you Mom".  Well, of course I immediately welled up with tears, and took instant stock of how God had formed our family.  Amazing, unforeseen, wonderful, heart-wrenching ways. He chose this time, this place, this husband, these sweet children (plus the one sleeping soundly in his crib) to build our family.  When I look back at all of the pieces of the puzzle God had to work together just right to build our perfect family...  Wow!  I know He is all powerful and all knowing and everything, but all of this?  Just to make me a mom!  So when you have a minute, please think about the way God is building your family.  If it is anything like mine (or looks totally different) it is blessing upon blessing.

Show and Tell

Wednesday was Annabelle's "Show and Tell Day", FINALLY.  Andrew's teacher has each kid bring show and tell every month, and Annabelle has been WAITING. ALL. YEAR. for her turn!  She wanted to take Benjamin as her "most prized posession".  Here is how it went down:

Annabelle:  I chose to bring my baby for show and tell.  His name is Benjamin and I had to get special permission from Mrs. Andersen because he is ALIVE (surely her teacher meant to ask permission if you wanted to bring in a pet, but she is right, Benjamin is alive).

Me: Do you want to tell them anything about Benjamin?  What he likes or doesn't like?

Annabelle: Well, he drools a lot, he likes to chew on things, he has an afro, and one time when my mom was changing him he peed on her.

Insert hysterical laughter from the entire class.  If you know any 5 year olds you know why this was so funny.  Apon seeing how she was the LIVING. END. because of the pee comment, she had to insert another zinger.

Annabelle: And at night, he sleeps with his booty in the air.

More hysterical laughter.  Again, all 5 year olds think the mention of the "behind" is hysterical.

Me: Anything else Annabelle? 

Annabelle:  Yes, let's show the class how he can walk

I put Benjamin on the floor and he refuses to walk, but crawls right up to some little boy we DO NOT KNOW and kisses him right on the mouth.

Of course more laughter!

Benjamin, and by extension Annabelle, was famous by lunch time.  The whole playground had heard about the "stand-up comedian and her side kick in room 17".  Andrew asked if he could bring Benjamin for show and tell next time.  Stay tuned...

Early Risers

Andrew is my early riser.  Period.  He usually goes to bed around 7:30 and wakes around 5:30 or 6.  We have tried pushing back his bedtime, and he only gets up at the same time, but SUPER CRABBY!!!!!!  So we are working on ways to manage his early tendencies:)  This week however, he went to bed every night at 7:30, a few nights he was asleep by 7:15 and he was sleeping until 7:30, twice until 8 am.  I hated waking him up to go to school!  I was hoping we were entering a new phase, the "Mommy gets to sleep past six" phase.  Wishful thinking.  This morning at 7 am all was quiet when I got up, but all of the lights in the house were on.  A sure sign Andrew has been up for a while.  But his door was closed and the lights in his room were off.  A sure sign he is in the front yard riding his bike...  So I opened his door and flipped on the light and found this.

Here are my boys!  Andrew got Benjamin out of his crib (a stern talking to came later) and brought him into bed to help him go back to sleep.  This is the reason all the lights were off.  Do you see the smile on that kid's face??!!  Seriously in love with this idea!!

Brotherly love!!  And wrestling, isn't that the same!!!???

You may be wondering why Benjamin isn't wearing pants.  I was wondering the same thing!!  When I asked Andrew where Benjamin's pants were he said, "they are in my dirty clothes momma, they had pee pee on them."  I am hoping he wasn't so wet because of the juice box in the background....

I always think God has at least one more child in store for us...  I often hope it's a girl, I love the hair bows and the tutu's, and I secretly love the sassy:)  But today, I cried as I realized His perfect plan for our lives included brothers and best friends who are both early risers.

Okay, so blogging isn't my forte these days...

But I am going to change that!  I will have to back up just a little to get in all the amazing things that have happened since September...  Ew, I know, last blog was September!!!!  Here are a few pics to catch you up:)

I made my own baby food.... Turned out great, but I made so much (remember it is my first time with only one baby), that  Benjamin was on to bigger and better things by the time he finished this batch and I didn't need to make any more.

Sorry about the orientation!!!!  An entire college football season came and went, and our Irish didn't do too bad!  Looking forward to next year!!!  Go Irish!!!

Benjamin has graduated to doing chores, his favorite is "helping" with the dishes, but here he is doing laundry.

We have forward motion!!!!!

Andrew and Annabelle were in a "Nursery Rhyme Parade" at school.  They were adorable as Jack and Jill!

Halloween!!!!!!!  Spidey and Jasmine say hello!

And so does "Snuggle Puppy"

Biggest day of 2011, Benjamin Jer becomes a Sanborn!  Read more about this here

We lost teeth, OH SO MANY TEETH!!!!!  Annabelle has lost 2.  Andrew has lost 5, well, knocked out 3 and lost 2 if you want to get technical!

We are exclusively on solid food now (in addition to formula, no more baby food), and DO NOT GET BETWEEN BENJAMIN AND HIS FOOD!!!!  As you can tell by the face he is making in this picture!

More pictures to come!

Happy Grandparents Day

I know, I am a little late!  Every year our elementary school does a tribute to Grandparents put on by the kindergarten classes.  It was seriously THE. CUTEST. THING. EVER.  I bawled my eyes out the entire time.  This was just a few days before the 3rd anniversary of my daddy's "homegoing".  So not having him there to see this was so sad.  I cried the entire time.  I know you're not surprised.  But seriously, a little girl a few rows in front of me asked her mom what was wrong with me.  The mom shrugged her shoulders like I was from outer space!  Really lady?  130 kindergarteners pouring their hearts out in song and dance to honor their grandparents??!!  IT WAS TOUCHING!!!!!!!  We brought Mimi, Grandma and Grandpa, Grandma Elsie and Gigi to school to see the kids in their first elementary school production and it was so fun!  We are so blessed to have such amazing grandparents and great grandparents pouring into our children's lives. We love you!

Here is the video...  Andrew is in the top left, Annabelle is toward the front in the middle (its hard to see them in a sea of 130 small people).  So make sure and turn off the music player at the bottom of the blog and turn up your sound!

A big shout out to 

Mrs. Romero, our music teacher

Mrs Andersen, Annabelle's teacher

Mrs.Willman, Andrew's teacher

"So Lucky" part two...

Yesterday a woman at the store said something really sweet and kind of profound.  I of course cried, and am crying now just writing...  I was at the store with Bill's Grandma Elsie and Benjamin while the big kids were at school.  Of course no less than a dozen strangers stopped to oogle Benjamin "He's so cute" and he was EATING IT UP!!!!  He was smiling at them flashing his dimples like nobody's business!!!  It was hilarious.  One woman said, "You sure are lucky".  I almost burst into tears immediately.  She has no idea!  We are "lucky" three times!!!  It really made me take a moment and thank the Lord for how "lucky" we are.  We have 3 beautiful children (I can say that with confidence as they are all adopted and none look like me:)).  They are a hand full to say the least.  They are exhausting, they don't always get along.  They demand limitless time and energy.  They are messy, even when trying to help clean up.  They often have attitudes and sometimes even talk back (gasp).  They are strong willed and sometimes bossy (where do they get it).  They throw fits in Target or at home when asked to do something they don't want to do.  They always need something else when we have nothing to give.  But they are ours.  God has given them to us and we cannot imagine our lives without them.  We are so "lucky"!