Monday, November 30, 2009

the santa train

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Saturday we headed down to the train in Canadaigua for the SANTA TRAIN!! That is what we talked about for the few days previous. I am not sure who was more excited Penelope or the adults. We had a great time.
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The Santa on the train was just sooo cute!
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the train was decorated and kinda old fashion and moved really slowly...after the pictures and excitment some of us even got a little nap in.
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The kids got to sit on Santas lap, we had some interesting hot chocolate and sang one or two maybe christmas carols, candy canes, hats and coloring books.

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Such a cute family!!!

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We waited to get our balloon character even after the train stopped and what did her make for Penelope?
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Yep! another Elmo!
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Happy Thanksgiving

This was the first Thanksgiving we have spent with family here in Rochester. We were so excited that the Millers could join us. Thanks for making the drive up!

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and the branch of course! i think we had the best food this year...it was all so good.
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We had these little bodies in our toddler bed and crib to make sure it was all child proof and ready. too cute!
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Jess, Eric, Penelope and Maya came from Cincinnati, Ohio....we are excited to have family that lives within driving distance at least for a few more months! it was a great break from work and went by way too fast.

Thursday millers drove in and we ran around trying to finish dinner and the prep for it, ate and then came home and hung out, chatted and went to bed way too late.

Friday~ Jess and I went to do a little shopping; the yarn boutique, JoAnns and we actually found online a Checkers Burgers (we grew up eating these burgers in Huntsville and have not seen them since.) it was a crazy backwoods trek trying to find what we thought would be a fastfood place and it turned out to be a truck stop off the interstate. we had to park in the restricted area and run across the entire parking lot to get those fries and burgers but they were so good!!

Chris did a little fishing, Eric did a lot of reading and we just played with the girls. Watched a movie and again went to bed way too late.

Friday; more shopping for Jess and Eric, Chris headed to the temple bright and early and I stayed with the girls...we sang ABC's faster and louder, read books and watched princess movies.

Then off to the sacred grove and the santa train....that gets an entire post because it was just too funny!
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Maya was asleep in the car

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Wednesday, November 25, 2009

what can you do but laugh

or cry i guess....

i love my job and feel like i am spending time doing something that is worthwhile and makes a difference in my community with children and families. However! There are a few times and days where i am just shocked at people's behavior.

i got a new referral for a young mom with four children so i called the source and we planned a joint visit. it was a great visit; the mom was very welcoming and inviting. my first thought was wow this will be a family that i get to know well and work with for years.

we had another visit at the house and then planned an outing to the science museum to interact with other children and have them mom interact with other moms. i got there on time and the mom with her four children, grandma, cousin and her cousins two children got there an hour late. after an hour she NEEDED food for her children and did not bring any. so she wanted me to buy them food since i got them into the museum i should be able to do that. (right)

after this visit i returned to the family home; mom forgot, was asleep at 1:00pm and wanted to reschedule so we did and when i went back no one was home. i called, left messages and stopped by several other times. nothing.

so i was closing her. nothing i could do.

one day about two months later i overhear a conversation with my bosses boss about a frantic family who needs help and support, resources before her daughter was kicked out of school, they were out of food, their home was condemned....the list goes on and on. the co-worker asked questions and we discovered that this was the same family from months earlier. the mother had not told our director that she had worked with me, that her daughter had come into the classroom here at the resource center or that we had gone to the museum. she simply stated that she was in crisis and needed services.

so i got the new address, a shelter and called. the mother refused to acknowledge that we had worked together. that she had ever met me or that we had gone to the museum together. "that must have been another family, another parent. not us, not me!"

ok~so being in a shelter she wanted to reschedule a visit when she got settled into her new apartment and she hung up.

So i waited; left two more messages, heard nothing back and called yesterday, she answered the phone and yelled at me; "how did you get this number?" I explained that she had given me the new phone when we had talked last. She said "I have no idea who you are and I do not understand why you are harassing me."

I explained again who I was and that when we had talked last she needed some support and wanted some services. I was simply calling to help her. She then proceeded to teach me all kinds of new bad words and phrases, yelling, screaming and "to not harass her anymore" still refusing to acknowledge that we had ever met.

and hung up the phone on me again!!!

today I am laughing but yesterday I was so mad and irritated....you gotta love these families. Chris just laughed and laughed.

Tuesday, November 24, 2009

a quilt

chris really liked this fabric combination and was really excited to pick it out himself....so to keep from going a little crazy we are busy finishing it and the curtains, and we found a rug that is from the same designer. amazing how it all came together.

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we really like the colors because it could be for a boy or a girl

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So to keep a very long story short we are certified to be foster to adoptive parents in Monroe County so we are just waiting to be placed with a child or children. I have not talked about it too much on the blog for several reasons but I guess at some point it will be obvious!

I feel like blogs are a great way to see a portion of someone's life but a really hard way to stay in touch with people. so I am really sorry for a lack of information. it is really one sided. chris has been more open about things and since the blog has been like a journal for us it makes sense to write about all that is happening. I guess the whole thing has been a very difficult and long journey and one that is not easy to share. But that is what we are doing right now.

we survived

but just barely!!

I really think this was a new low for me....we have been so busy with work, church, holidays coming and certification right now that everything just happened at once. Seriously, I only had one maybe two (chris would say) little breakdowns. Where I was not sure how this was going to come together.

I hope it did in the end I know everything was not perfect but it worked and we survived!

Our theme was a Return to Virtue, our stake president spoke and he did a fabulous job as always. We had homemade cupcakes, virtue charms, pictures of the temple for each YW and then we had a musical performance by the YW. I hope everyone had a great time! We got very few pictures of the event but here are a few.

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our virtue chain that the YW have worked on ALL year! It was huge.
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we had to add more tables and chairs as people continued to come in. that is a great problem to have but we were packed into the gym.
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and there was GOLD every where!!! foil on the cupcakes, on the tables, sprinkles on the cupcakes, flowers, decor. I think I will stay away from gold in the christmas season this year just because I am a little sick of it...

so fairwell YW in Excellence until next year...thank goodness!

Sunday, November 15, 2009

a few little things

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Autumn Fest in Geneseo
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We had our super saturday down in geneseo this month. they have a brand new building (which is now not so clean) and they were gracious enough to allow Palmyra to join us as well so it turned out we had a huge crowd.

It was a great activity but man I am still trying to recover. Plus Chris had the Service Auction at the Branch so we had to divide and conquer. So much work in one little day and week. I think it also has something to do with all the travel and prep for YW in Excellence. I am surrounded by gold everything (virtue), seriously paper, cupcake foils, decor, banners, etc. It is almost to the point of tacky. And I am looking forward to when this week is over! So many little details to work out. It will be a great program and the YW are excited to be involved.
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That is Sam on the drums!! She is amazing and so talented....They have written a few of their own songs and Sam sang a few as well. It was the best to have her band play.

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On the home front!!!
How do people stand these little toddler beds~they are just too adorable. We finally have the beds up, rearranged the guest room and the office, hung a few pictures on the wall (our vintage bessie pease gutmann) and stuffed the books on a random bookshelf. But that is about it. AH! We are getting there.
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The crib is also set up and now we just WAIT. I am feeling a little more prepared with those few things organized but there is still so much to do and get ready. I think that is the point. I have to learn to let go of a few things and trust. That is a hard lesson for me to learn since I am ubber organized and definitely a control freak. In a situation like this I have no control and will have to rely on the spirit to direct what the best thing will be for our family. Once again I wish I could just see a glimpse of what is ahead. It is faith promoting and we have to trust in the Lord because we know we have been led to this for a reason. What a crazy ride this has all been so far and I am sure it will just continue. yee hah!

Friday, November 6, 2009

the first snow of the season

and where were we?? playing football at 11:00 pm!

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Chris has been playing on a team with medical students from the U of R...which is great! but they have been playing so late. I had not gone to any of the games and decided since he was in the playoffs I should go and see.
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I grabbed some hot chocolate and wrapped up but then it started to snow! They won.... I just did not last the entire game. Fun to see my chriser play ball. and welcome to winter!

Tuesday, November 3, 2009

Halloween + Leaves

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For Halloween we made treats for a friends party; ghost/mummies (that depends on who you ask) as well as Apple Brittle. We bought candy for the O trick-or-treaters who came/did not come by our house. And hung out with Elise from our branch!
Fun times!

Then this weeks FHE was spent outside. We love our big old trees in the back yard. They provide wonderful shade and turned a beautiful color yellow this year but OMG it took forever to rake ALL the leaves.
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This picture does not do it justice because raking took Chris and I four hours to complete. It was a great workout. We went through two rolls of hefty garbage bags~this does not even show them all. I still love this time of year and actually did not mind the four hours outside on a beautiful fall day plus Chris and I got to chat about a lot of things.
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