Wow, it has been so long since I last blogged that the whole blogger layout is different and I'm going to have to spend some serious time exploring it.
So, here we are... May 26th. Happy Anniversary to me. Marco and I have now been married 5 years. I wish that we could be together.... hopefully next year.
Lots of things have happened during my blogging sabbatical.....
We are progressing on the immigration front.... slowly but surely. I'm still hopeful that Marco will be here sometime this summer, but sometimes it seems like it is never going to happen. We are SO ready for Daddy to come home. August 15th it will have been a whole year since we have seen Marco face to face..... I hope it doesn't get that far. Our papers have passed through the immigration gauntlet and are now going through the visa one. I can't seem to find any processing times which is discouraging.... I like being able to have even the slightest hint of a time frame.
The kids and I moved. Remember the project that my parents were involved in starting at the end of last summer.... the remodeling of the old hotel into apartments. Well, I am the new manager. We are loving it here. There is a great park one block away (the spray park is supposed to open this weekend, but the weather is completely miserable right now!!), the library is 6 blocks away and they have these kid-friendly computers that Cooper is OBSESSED with, he cries when it is time to go. Maria is in the pre-school up at the university, which is a pretty cool program, she is really enjoying it. Managing the apartments is fun. The guys we manage are all so nice.... a really great group of guys. I love having the self-fulfillment that working gives me.
My brother lives here in the same town, and his oldest son will be 8 later this summer. He is playing little league baseball right now and we love going to the games. Maria and Cooper love playing with the balls and bats, they don't know exactly what to do, but they enjoy themselves.
Today, being such a yucky, dark, windy, rainy day.... we are staying inside. We made play dough this morning, it's pretty amazing how long they are happy playing with play dough. Then I screwed some mini-picture framing hooks into the ceiling, attached a piece of yarn to them and tied a balloon to the end... I hung two on opposite sides of the living room and the kids are LOVING practicing hitting the balloons with their bats. Now I just have to figure out activities for this evening.
Saturday, May 26, 2012
Friday, March 9, 2012
Immigration Update
Hello all. Here is an immigration update for those of you who care.
Marco is STILL in Honduras. The kids and I are in Washington but will be moving to Idaho to manage some apartments. I am very torn about the move.... I will be leaving a lot of security in the form of family and friends, but this will hopefully set us up better for the future when Marco returns.
On my birthday my petition for my spouse was approved. Oh happy day. I didn't find out about it until March 5th due to speed of mail, but we are happy about this. I was at the gym with my mom when the letter came in the mail. My dad called and opened it for me and I started crying happy tears. this means that we are one step closer to being reunited as a family.
The downside of this is there was some confusion earlier on in our case and now we have to submit another application to get USCIS (United States Citizen & Immigration Services) to transfer our case to the NVC (National Visa Center). The processing times for this movement of paper looks to be around 3 months..... and I don't believe that that time frame includes the NVC's processing times. But we are hopeful that this will progress quickly. We received the petition for spouse approval in 4 months, 2 months quicker than we expected, so hopefully the rest will also be processed quickly.
I am OK most of the time. Today has been a rough day, and I expect that it will get worse before it gets better. I know it could be worse, which helps me keep things in perspective. I also have a LOT of things to be thankful for. I am thankful for my 3 1/2 year old who is a very nice little girl, who brings me tissues when I am crying, who makes me laugh and worry about the future when she sticks her hip out and her nose in the air. I'm thankful for an almost 2 year old little boy who wakes up from his naps with only one sock on his hand because he can't figure out how to get the second sock on, who, I'm sure, says "MAMA, MAMA, MAMA, MAMA........." over and over and over again just to hear himself talk. I'm thankful for their lovely little hugs and kisses. I'm so thankful for parents who put up with my little "wild indians" and let us crash at their house rent free for months and months and months at a time. I'm thankful for a father who does all he can do to get me little odd-jobs doing what I love here and there so that I can provide a meager income for my little ones. I'm thankful for a mother who tolerates my priorities (as in cleaning isn't ever my first priority) and jokes about them with me. I'm thankful for a husband who calls EVERYDAY. I'm thankful for old friends who keep in contact with me, even though I suck at keeping in contact with them. I'm thankful for new friends just calling to say hi. I am thankful for the big move that is coming up..... and although many great things will be coming to an end, I believe that many wonderful things are going to begin......
Marco is STILL in Honduras. The kids and I are in Washington but will be moving to Idaho to manage some apartments. I am very torn about the move.... I will be leaving a lot of security in the form of family and friends, but this will hopefully set us up better for the future when Marco returns.
On my birthday my petition for my spouse was approved. Oh happy day. I didn't find out about it until March 5th due to speed of mail, but we are happy about this. I was at the gym with my mom when the letter came in the mail. My dad called and opened it for me and I started crying happy tears. this means that we are one step closer to being reunited as a family.
The downside of this is there was some confusion earlier on in our case and now we have to submit another application to get USCIS (United States Citizen & Immigration Services) to transfer our case to the NVC (National Visa Center). The processing times for this movement of paper looks to be around 3 months..... and I don't believe that that time frame includes the NVC's processing times. But we are hopeful that this will progress quickly. We received the petition for spouse approval in 4 months, 2 months quicker than we expected, so hopefully the rest will also be processed quickly.
I am OK most of the time. Today has been a rough day, and I expect that it will get worse before it gets better. I know it could be worse, which helps me keep things in perspective. I also have a LOT of things to be thankful for. I am thankful for my 3 1/2 year old who is a very nice little girl, who brings me tissues when I am crying, who makes me laugh and worry about the future when she sticks her hip out and her nose in the air. I'm thankful for an almost 2 year old little boy who wakes up from his naps with only one sock on his hand because he can't figure out how to get the second sock on, who, I'm sure, says "MAMA, MAMA, MAMA, MAMA........." over and over and over again just to hear himself talk. I'm thankful for their lovely little hugs and kisses. I'm so thankful for parents who put up with my little "wild indians" and let us crash at their house rent free for months and months and months at a time. I'm thankful for a father who does all he can do to get me little odd-jobs doing what I love here and there so that I can provide a meager income for my little ones. I'm thankful for a mother who tolerates my priorities (as in cleaning isn't ever my first priority) and jokes about them with me. I'm thankful for a husband who calls EVERYDAY. I'm thankful for old friends who keep in contact with me, even though I suck at keeping in contact with them. I'm thankful for new friends just calling to say hi. I am thankful for the big move that is coming up..... and although many great things will be coming to an end, I believe that many wonderful things are going to begin......
Tuesday, January 31, 2012
Things I Want to Remember...
Cooper fell asleep before Maria one night.... he was SOOO tired, it took him maybe 2 minutes to fall asleep. He was dead to the world. After a few minutes I could hear Maria on the baby monitor saying "Cooooper..... Coooooopeeerrr.... Hey Coop. Wake up Cooper?? Wake up Cooper!!" It was so funny. She said things off and on to him for about 5 minutes. He did not wake up.
Put both kids to bed after a long day. Maria was overtired and cranky. On the baby monitor I could hear Cooper talking to himself and then Maria said "Cooper, it's time to be quiet" and then Coop was quiet. It was so funny!
Maria and I went and saw Beauty and the Beast in 3D at the theater. After we left the theater (which opens into the food court at the mall) Maria said "Mommy, I'm hungry, I need some food" I told her no, that we were going to look for something and then go home and have dinner..... We went into Claire's for some stick-on or clip on ear rings. We got the stick-on variety. After leaving the store she stuck up her index finger and asked "Can we go to just ONE more store?" That girl LOVES to shop!!
Put both kids to bed after a long day. Maria was overtired and cranky. On the baby monitor I could hear Cooper talking to himself and then Maria said "Cooper, it's time to be quiet" and then Coop was quiet. It was so funny!
Maria and I went and saw Beauty and the Beast in 3D at the theater. After we left the theater (which opens into the food court at the mall) Maria said "Mommy, I'm hungry, I need some food" I told her no, that we were going to look for something and then go home and have dinner..... We went into Claire's for some stick-on or clip on ear rings. We got the stick-on variety. After leaving the store she stuck up her index finger and asked "Can we go to just ONE more store?" That girl LOVES to shop!!
Friday, January 20, 2012
Winter Storm 2012
About a week ago the snow started coming down... it is still here. When it first arrived it was that magical fluff that quiets the world... now it is just cold. The kids have loved having the snow. They love eating it, making snowmen, throwing snowballs, putting it into containers, running in it..... they still think it is wonderful, as long as they have their gloves on. If they don't have their gloves on they don't want to touch it.... it's pretty funny.
Here we have an enclosed 2nd story porch off of the living room..... it is the perfect outdoor playpen. In the summer we put the baby pool out there for the kids to play in.... this week we bundled them up in their winter garb and let them loose with plastic containers and wooden spoons. They LOVED it.
I took a bunch of pictures of the kids... they are SO wonderful, and beautiful, and smart, and full of spunk & personality.
Cooper LOVES hats.... and he is getting really good at putting them on himself. Maria's hair is getting SO long.... I've been tempted to cut it when there are a million and one knots to get out, BUT I want to wait until Marco is here with us....
Here are our winter storm pictures.............
Sunday, November 27, 2011
I have really dreaded blogging lately. Blogging has seemed like this huge task…. so much work, so much effort. A lot of the time I feel a little bit numb in my life. I try my best to do everything that I can for my two kiddos, and that takes most of my energy and emotion. Being a “single” mom with no back-up is hard. I have the privilege of dealing with every single melt down, fight & tantrum that a 3 and 1 ½ year old can throw. At the end of the day I don’t feel like writing down the things that are happening in my life because I am tired, and I don’t want to face all of the emotions. I don’t like thinking about all the things that my husband is missing as our children are growing. I don’t want to think about not knowing when the next time that we will see him will be. There are a lot of feelings that I hide from everyone, including myself, because it is easier to be strong that way…. I think they call it denial… but it gets me thru the day… and into the night where I can read, pin, or craft my way into oblivion.
BUT…. There are things that I know if I don’t document I will be sad.
So here I go…. Documenting a few events that I don’t want to forget…. Because if it’s not written down I will forget it.
Maria turned 3 September First. While we were here in May we visited a friend of mine whose girls were in school…. Maria got a little jealous and wanted to go to school with them. While we were in Honduras she kept asking about going to school. When we got back here in August I thought I would look into a few pre-schools to see if we could get her in. There was a little bit of a problem. She was born one day to late to attend pre-school this year. The cut off date was August 31st, and most places are not flexible. She kept asking though, so I kept asking around. I got a call from a friend who said that the 3 year old class at the pre-school her son goes to had someone drop out, so there was a place and that I should call the teachers and see if Maria could get in…. The heavens opened. Not only would they accept Maria, they would give her a partial scholarship, and the frequency of the class was just perfect for her. She started the first week in October. At the beginning she wasn’t so sure, but now she LOVES it… she knows that “Mommy will ALWAYS come back for her” so we go in there, take care of business, have a hug and a kiss and off she goes. I plan my errands so that we are in town while she is in class and I get some special one-on-one time with Cooper. It is lovely.
We have been doing some fun toddler activities that were discovered on Pinterest.
We painted bread with colored milk with the intention of toasting it and making sandwiches for lunch, but the kids just ate the soggy bread as they went along.
We made “mind jars”, which are kind of like snow globes. The water is thickened with glycerin which makes it so the glitter settles slowly.
Coloring lots.... with markers for Maria and crayons for Cooper.
We made ghost foot prints.... the kids loved having their feet painted.
We make built objects with mini marshmallows and toothpics.
We played balloon ping-pong.
We did science experiments with baking soda and vinegar.
We organized the toys together…. This was actually very fun. Maria is amazing at picking up and sorting the toys, Cooper is learning.
We went to our Ward Halloween Party. Maria was a ballerina (her birthday present outfit) and Cooper was a pumpkin (the same one that Maria was two years ago) They LOVED their costumes. They had a lot of fun at the Carnival that the young men & women put on, it took Maria a little to figure out that they were games and that she got a little prize at the end, but once she caught on she loved it. Cooper thought it was pretty cool too….. his favorite was the mini basket ball hoop. It was right at head level for him…. Perfect.
We are also frequent visitors to the library. We go at least three times a week. The have a nice little area for the kids and they also have a great thing where you can reserve books online and set them aside for you so pick up is easier.
We spent Thanksgiving with some friends. They opened their doors and hearts to my little family inviting us to enjoy the holiday feast with them. They were so lovely. Their family was so welcoming and gracious….. and their invitation came at a perfect time because a tree fell on our power lines early afternoon and our power was not back on until early Friday morning.
The past couple of days we have been preparing for Christmas. We set up the tree and hung the stockings. I made a Christmas Activities Advent Calendar full of fun activities that I want to do with the kids this season.
I also made a “thankful tree” I wanted to have it made the beginning of November, but that didn’t happen so I am going to keep it up thru the end of the year and then put all the thankful notes together and save them as a reminder of the things I was most thankful for in 2011.
I have had a little bit of work these past couple of months too (which I am so grateful for). I have been helping with the development of a website for my parent’s latest project (www.arpadhousing.com) and have helped set up a blog so people can see the progress of construction (www.arpadhousing.blogspot.com). I also worked on a rendering for this project which was fun.
BUT…. There are things that I know if I don’t document I will be sad.
So here I go…. Documenting a few events that I don’t want to forget…. Because if it’s not written down I will forget it.
Maria turned 3 September First. While we were here in May we visited a friend of mine whose girls were in school…. Maria got a little jealous and wanted to go to school with them. While we were in Honduras she kept asking about going to school. When we got back here in August I thought I would look into a few pre-schools to see if we could get her in. There was a little bit of a problem. She was born one day to late to attend pre-school this year. The cut off date was August 31st, and most places are not flexible. She kept asking though, so I kept asking around. I got a call from a friend who said that the 3 year old class at the pre-school her son goes to had someone drop out, so there was a place and that I should call the teachers and see if Maria could get in…. The heavens opened. Not only would they accept Maria, they would give her a partial scholarship, and the frequency of the class was just perfect for her. She started the first week in October. At the beginning she wasn’t so sure, but now she LOVES it… she knows that “Mommy will ALWAYS come back for her” so we go in there, take care of business, have a hug and a kiss and off she goes. I plan my errands so that we are in town while she is in class and I get some special one-on-one time with Cooper. It is lovely.
We have been doing some fun toddler activities that were discovered on Pinterest.
We painted bread with colored milk with the intention of toasting it and making sandwiches for lunch, but the kids just ate the soggy bread as they went along.
We made “mind jars”, which are kind of like snow globes. The water is thickened with glycerin which makes it so the glitter settles slowly.
Coloring lots.... with markers for Maria and crayons for Cooper.
We made ghost foot prints.... the kids loved having their feet painted.
We make built objects with mini marshmallows and toothpics.
We played balloon ping-pong.
We did science experiments with baking soda and vinegar.
We organized the toys together…. This was actually very fun. Maria is amazing at picking up and sorting the toys, Cooper is learning.
We went to our Ward Halloween Party. Maria was a ballerina (her birthday present outfit) and Cooper was a pumpkin (the same one that Maria was two years ago) They LOVED their costumes. They had a lot of fun at the Carnival that the young men & women put on, it took Maria a little to figure out that they were games and that she got a little prize at the end, but once she caught on she loved it. Cooper thought it was pretty cool too….. his favorite was the mini basket ball hoop. It was right at head level for him…. Perfect.
We are also frequent visitors to the library. We go at least three times a week. The have a nice little area for the kids and they also have a great thing where you can reserve books online and set them aside for you so pick up is easier.
We spent Thanksgiving with some friends. They opened their doors and hearts to my little family inviting us to enjoy the holiday feast with them. They were so lovely. Their family was so welcoming and gracious….. and their invitation came at a perfect time because a tree fell on our power lines early afternoon and our power was not back on until early Friday morning.
The past couple of days we have been preparing for Christmas. We set up the tree and hung the stockings. I made a Christmas Activities Advent Calendar full of fun activities that I want to do with the kids this season.
I also made a “thankful tree” I wanted to have it made the beginning of November, but that didn’t happen so I am going to keep it up thru the end of the year and then put all the thankful notes together and save them as a reminder of the things I was most thankful for in 2011.
I have had a little bit of work these past couple of months too (which I am so grateful for). I have been helping with the development of a website for my parent’s latest project (www.arpadhousing.com) and have helped set up a blog so people can see the progress of construction (www.arpadhousing.blogspot.com). I also worked on a rendering for this project which was fun.
Maria didn't want her picture taken the first day of school.... but Cooper didn't mind having his taken.
Here they are painting bread with colored milk.... we might have to do this one again soon.
Maria really likes these "mind jars".
We found a couple of my old dresses and Maria wanted to wear them.... they are just a little small on her... she LOVED the green one, it spun really well.
Here the kids are with our carved pumpkin this year. They didn't want to have anything to do with removing the "guts". BUT the did want to eat the pumpkin raw.... I wasn't sure that was a good idea, I've never eaten raw pumpkin myself so I didn't let them eat too much.
Here they are in their Halloween costumes after the party.
I uploaded this one before I saw that it was blurry.... oops, but I'm not going to take it off.... Here Cooper is playing in the tupperware drawer.
Maria fell asleep like this one day last week when I was washing the bed linens...
It took me a minute to realize that she was underneath the nicely stacked row of pillows.
Just in the past couple of days the kids have started playing really well together. When they watch a movie Maria will now invite Cooper to sit next to her on the couch. It's really cute.
The kids loved the balls for the Christmas tree.... thank goodness they are plastic.
They try to hang them on the tree, but they don't do too well. Maria could get an occasional ball on the tree, but it was pretty frustrating.
I like this picture.... they are starting to hug more which warms my heart. At bedtime when I say it's time for hugs Cooper will run to Maria with arms wide open.
Here is our tree.... notice how there are hardly any ornaments on the bottom now...
This is the thankful tree I made.
This is the Activities Advent Calendar (The list to the side is a list of "festive" scriptures to read over the course of the month.)
The Activities we are going to do are:
unwrap & read a Christmas book
make salt dough ornaments
make playdough snowmen & christmas trees
make s'mores
take christmas photos
eat christmas oranges
open a special ornament and put it on the tree
make a gift for teachers
make christmas cards and send them to family
make silly hats and have a dance party with christmas music
color christmas pictures
make ginger bread houses
make a craft with mom
make hot chocolate and stir it with a candy cane
write a letter to santa
visit santa
make reindeer food
drive around and look at christmas lights
call family and sing christmas songs
read about the birth of Jesus and set up a nativity
have a sleepover in the living room, eat popcorn and watch a movie
make a treat and take it to friends
make cookies for santa
read the night before christmas and wear new jammies to bed.
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