Percy Jackson - the new Harry Potter

Perhaps you've eard of him? He's Alex's new best friend...

Alex and I were recently introduced to the Percy Jackson series. Percy, the son of Poseidon, is an unlikely superhero who in his series Percy Jackson and the Olympians takes on the likes of Ares (the war god) and Medusa, he also challenges no good mythological creatures like Cerberus, Cyclops and a host of others. While I personally find the story line of to be slightly reminiscent of the Harry Potter series, they are equally well written, and a joy to read.
Besides, who doesn't love discussing Greek mythology with their 8 year old?
When Alex finished his first book The Lightning Thief I had him design his own project based on the book. Alex decided to make a book illustrating Mt. Olympus as it is described at one point in the book. Some of the illustrations he could draw based on what was described, others needed a little bit of research. (What exactly does a hippodrome look like?)

So move over Harry Potter... a more educational, less scary, Percy Jackson is here to stay.

dreaming of a little boy in a far off land

We recently received our travel information for our first trip to Russia (yahoo!). This is not the trip where we will take custody and bring our little dude home. It will probably be closer to September before he can come back with us. But we are so thrilled to be another step closer to being a family of 6. While there is a flurry of travel arranging happening I can't help but daydream about what it will be like to see my baby again. Those eyes, that giggle. Will he still call Jory "Bop"? Too bad I can't cram Alex into my carry-on. As nervous as we are about the international travel, I can't wait to experience my son in his native culture and bring home an appreciation for what his homeland is like.

Don't worry little dude, Mama's on her way... and yes, I am bringing you more matchbox cars...

(nearly) Wordless Wednesday

stand your ground
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Garden Study - April

I have one word to describe my garden right now and that would be wet. We've had rain, rain and more rain, which means my plants are happy, but certain parts of my yard have succumbed to the flood. That's what I get for living in a swamp, right?
Regardless, I have some new "big picture" shots from the garden so you can see how things are coming along. First we have the front garden. Which actually has stuff growing in it now, and therefore looks more like a garden. Sadly not much is blooming yet, so it's still not that exciting. We've got some daffodils and some grape hyacinths out, but that's about it for our April blooms.
So you can compare the growth between this month and last I put my photo from March first



Here's the swell garden, it has lots of new growth, but not a lot of blooming yet... again last months photo is first...

And last of all, I have the Rose of Sharon garden. This one is a little bit more wild and unruly, I let more native plants hang out here than I generally tolerate in my other beds, so if it looks a little rougher that's why. That and the mulch that was illegally dumped here a few years back makes it rather difficult to mow. Ahem.

We don't need no stinking eggs...

The eggs never got colored, or even hunted for...
the Easter candy was never purchased, let alone filled any baskets...
Easter finery was worn, but there are no photos to prove it.
I had grand schemes of how to make this Easter "bigger and better" than the previous, but somehow never quite got around to doing any of it.
But this was the best Easter we've had in a long time.
The fact that we didn't end up at the golden arches for a lonely lunch by ourselves (again) might have something to do with it.
So what did we do? A delicious lunch at our dear friends house, followed by some pick-up baseball in their backyard, a trip to the park to show them the "tree-pee" we discovered earlier this week, followed up by dinner together at Jory's favorite Mexican restaurant.



That my friends is how you celebrate Easter.
Who needs eggs.

a cure for the crankies

Here at home we're winding down our school year, which means:
1. YAHOO.
2. No one wants to do any more work. Period. Including Mama.

We've had a serious case of the crankies in our house, the kids are relentlessly picking on each other, and we're all stuck inside due to the crummy weather. Messy house? Yes. Stressed out Mama? How'd you guess?
Yesterday was the first warm day we've had in weeks, so it was time for a field trip. I took the kids on our first nature walk of the spring. We went down by the river to marvel at how high the water level was and how fast the current was moving. Then Mama plopped herself down on a sunny log while Alex threw rocks and tree bark canoes into the current and the girls explored a wooded area filled with flood debris.


The girls ended up discovering a "tree-pee" that someone had made using flood debris. Someone with a rather elaborate imagination and a little too much free time had taken some decent sized tree logs and constructed a tee pee large enough for me to walk inside. That was the end of Alex's tree bark canoe races.

All 3 kids managed to play together for a whole hour without bickering and a happy Mama found yet another sunny log to enjoy.

gift bags for a little friend

You might remember the gift sacks that I made for Christmas and
the girls birthday . I am still debating about whether to eliminate wrapping paper all together or to go full out sacks from now on. Sacks for only us? immediate family? close friends? I'm not sure I'll ever have an answer, but I did want to share a sack that I made for a friend's birthday party that we're going to later this week. For my family I know that we'll be recycling our pieces so I've been making straight up bags with separate embellishments to keep things interchangeable. But for our little friend, I didn't figure her mom was going to recycle the bag as gift wrap, so interchangeability wasn't an issue.

I started with a pre-made bag out of my stash and some felt scraps. I cut out the oval and the letters (luckily her name was short, poor Annabel will never see her name spelled out in felt), the flower was from my crafty stash... I stitched the oval on with embroidery floss, and glued the letters and flower with fabric glue. The whole thing might have taken an hour. Now little Joy has a bag to keep her treasures in.

(nearly) worldess wednesday

desperately seeking sunshine

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You know you're a good mom when

My Alex recently decided to give me my very first performance review. As in how my ratings are with the 8 year old demographic.
Since I scored in the 90th percentile I feel qualified to give you some hints about how you too can score so high in your reviews.
Step 1: Let you kids eat candy for breakfast (true story! The girls were away spending the night at Grandma's and I let him try some of the taffy that Grandma brought back from the beach for his breakfast). Mother of the year. I know. But hey it helped my ratings so don't judge me.
Step 2: Let him play video games (ok, it was bejeweled blitz on facebook and every point he earns goes to my overall total - so I was really the winner in this scenario)
Step 3: When girls get back from Grandma's, feel guilty that the boy hasn't had any quality time with her, so send them off together to the lake house for the afternoon.

That my friends is how you score so high on your performance reviews. If you should be in the position to be evaluated that is.
We won't talk about the two girls who cried and moaned for a good hour after Alex left with Grandma, because Alex got a "better" treat than they did.
I fear my performance levels for their demographic would not have been so high.

What's wrong with this picture?

What is that white stuff all over my garden?

Oh, I know IT'S SNOW.

Apparently the winter that would not end wasn't quite finished.

Sigh.

the state of the gardens

Spring has finally sprung in our neighborhood. It's such a relief after facing the winter that would not end. We have been outside in full force, soaking up every drop of sunlight, delighting in each new shoot of green that claws it's way to the surface.

So here's what's new...

The first round of daffodils have bloomed (I have several varieties that bloom at different times). I swore up and down I wasn't going to cut a collection for the table. I made it to about 9 am on the day after my first blooms opened up before some of my lovelies made their way indoors.

It always amazes me at how quickly things shoot up in the spring. You can practically hear the peonies growing. I swear these things are an inch taller than they were last night.

Last but not least we have our little squills. These little wildflowers were reclaimed from my woods, and now live in my hosta patch. Aren't they cute?

We're so happy you're back.

(nearly) wordless wednesday

Welcome Back

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Vanya's story

I ran across this story earlier this week, it's a segment that played on Sunday's edition of Dateline. If you missed it is the heroic tale of a young Russian orphan named Vanya who totally stole my heart. Look for the story called "The Boy from Baby Home 10"
Vanya's story

In a perfect world, I'd be able to embed the video right here, but when tried to embed the video code from MSNBC it ended up being a story about wildfires in Texas. While a very interesting story indeed, it wasn't as blog worth as young Vanya's. Be sure to watch all 6 segments (30 minutes total).

Guest Blogger: Louisa

(Self Portrait by Louisa)

Hi Louisa! Howdy

How are you today: absolutely perfect

What is your favorite thing to play: foxy

What do you do to make your family laugh: make funny sounds

What's your favorite place to be: snuggling with Mommy

What is your favorite restaurant: Bob Evans

What's something you like to do when you are feeling sneaky that you don't want Daddy to know about? steal Halloween candy

If you had a million dollars what would you do with it: help people

How are you different than your sister: She likes different foods

If you could be any animal what would you pick and why: a fox because I like them, and they are very fast

Whats your favorite art supply: stickers and crayons, and the paper cutter

Guest blogger - Annie

(Annie's self portrait)

Alex had so much fun being in the spotlight yesterday that it was only fair to let the other kids have a turn. so today it's Annie's turn. Louisa was too busy playing Uno with Alex. So here's Annie's interview!

Hi Annie! hi

How are you today: fine What is your favorite thing to play: making tents with Max

What is your best joke: knock knock, who's there, ah! they're home! (do you get it? it's a robber)

What do you do to make your family laugh: make funny faces (like this one! oh wait you can't see it)

What is your favorite thing to do with Mommy: sew

Daddy: make waffles

What's something you like to do when you are feeling sneaky that you don't want Daddy to know about? steal candy

If you had a million dollars what would you do with it: help Russian orphans

What is your favorite food: Pizza!

How are you different than your sister: I wear pink clothes and Louisa wears purple, and I lost more teeth than she did.

Guest Blogger

(Self Portrait, by Alex)

Today we have a guest blogger. Alex has taken over the reigns today so that I can work elsewhere. Ahem. Hi Alex, how are you: good What are you up to today: looking at a book How old are you: 8 What are you looking forward to the most right now: sumer vacation What's something funny about Mom: tickling About Dad: tickling What is your favorite thing to do when Mom's not paying attention: jump on mom's bed What do you like to read: books What makes you laugh: dad pretending to be grumpy hmph. If you could travel anywhere in the galaxy where would you go and why: Russia, to see max kapustin

More exciting news.....

I "auditioned" for a spot in the top mommy blogs ranking system and got in! If you believe in us and our message please go vote for us! You can vote once per day. While you're there check out some of the other amazing mommy blogs. Just click on the link in this post or the one in the sidebar that will stay there for a while...

Hats for Pakistan - part 2

So I talked a little last week about some hats we'd made for Pakistan. Well after our sewing workshop was done, I decided to make a few little hats of my own. Sadly they weren't quite finished when my mother in law had to go back to New Mexico, so we had to make sure she saw them before the flew off to the other side of the planet.

This one was taken by sweet Louisa. Didn't she do a good job?

and here are my silly children who are not cooperating.

20 Grand, part 2

Yes, there's more to this story

Back in August when we launched our fundraising campaign our "realistic" goal for our fundraising efforts was around $9,000. Back then I couldn't even dream about $20,000. That number was just an unattainable goal. Then October came along and our family fell under some pretty heavy spiritual warfare (aka nearly every electronic device in my house broke) and we weren't going to be able to use our church for fundraising, which meant that I couldn't rely on 95 pecent of our social network for help. The $9,000 goal started to sound less and less attainable.

The more and more I think about our journey, the more I see parrallels between it and the story of my own salvation. I pulled out my entire fundraising arsenal. I worked long hours. I enlisted the help of every sympathetic ear. I did everything I could possibly think of to do. And I was not even close to my goal. There was nothing I could do to get this money. It was an unattainable goal. It was a bridge I couldn't cross through my own efforts.

Kind of like doing all the good stuff I can possibly do to get myself a ticket to Heaven.

It doesn't work like that.

I pleaded with God. Show me what to do to earn this money.

He says "stop trying. There is nothing you can do to earn it. I'm going to give it to you. All you have to do is tell everyone about it."

Like with my own salvation it's hard to believe that all I had to do was sit around and "do nothing" while I waited for God to meet me in the middle. But that is exactly what happened.

the land of 20 grand

Before we even started our adoption process, we were warned that it would take at least $35,000 (before travel expenses) to bring our little guy into our family. Before we made that commitment we looked really hard at our finances, counted all our pennies, and scratched our heads. We figured out that we had a $7,000 gap in between what we could put together in a year, and our "before travel" total.

The idea of me getting a job was out, our lives revolve around me being at home, and the economy is in the toilet anyway. The chances of me getting a decent job that would pay well enough to offset the huge upheaval that my employment would cause were slim to none.

So we hit our knees in prayer. Our answer from God was simple. Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Take the blind leap. We were confident that God wouldn't command for us to do something and then not give us the resources to do it.

So we took the blind leap. We strategized our fundraising plan. We put together an army of people who wanted to help us with our task. We took photos for 3 months last fall and did quite well, bringing in nearly $5,000. But when November hit our photography project fizzled out for the winter. We got a little nervous, knowing we were still short. So we started putting our other fundraising plans into place. We had a whole notebook full of great ideas that would have worked. If we could have used our church. Our church decided to make a "no fundraising policy" this fall, effectively sinking nearly all of my event plans.

We got really nervous.

But we clung to the promise that it was all a part of the plan. God was going to provide, and He wasn't going to use my plans to do it.

So out of ideas and nearly out of money we did what anyone would do. Cried out to God and twiddled our thumbs while we waited for Him to show up.

And He did. $300 from one friend, $500 from another. Check by check, not only did God fill in the $7,000 gap, but at this point He's dropped $20,000 in our laps. Just when I think He's given us our last check, someone else hands me an envelop. We're excited to see just how much more He's going to give us. And we can't wait to tell you just how faithful He's been. One thing for sure, when this crazy ride is over... we're going to have a lot of paying it forward to do...

April = outside time

So while there's a good month until the weather improves enough for our community to fully embrace the outdoors, we Petersons are a special kind of crazy. We've been known to go out while there's still snow on the ground to get a jump on the season. In reality when you garden on the scale that we do, there's always something that needs to be done. Not much has changed since I posted the current state of the gardens photos last week, our beds are still pretty dead and brown. But there is much to be done in preparation for another growing season that will be upon us before we know it. I spent most of the day outside yesterday thinking I could knock a few things off the list. Not so much. I think my to do list must be breeding, because it's longer now than it was earlier. Drat.

The done list:

* find a home the handful of daffodil bulbs that had been churned up by the demo project

* divide/relocate the irises that also met the bulldozer (but survived just fine)

All that stuff went into the Rose of Sharon garden I showed you earlier.

* Measure out and make a preliminary fence for the new veggie garden that'll go in that half acre of soil turned up by the demo.

I was originally going to fence off about 3/4s of that area for veggies, but then I came to my senses. Really, I don't need to plant enough food to feed an entire village. I settled on an area about 4x the size of my original garden. If I get all that space filled in, then I'll worry about expanding.

On the list for this week:

* compost/mulch the 3 gardens I showed you in addition to the new veggie bed

* finish purchasing seeds for veggie bed, and figure out a new support system for the peas and tomatoes.

*find homes for the 50ish daffodil bulbs that are randomly scattered around after the demo. (Anybody want some bulbs? Free to a good home!)