This past weekend Lady A and her mom, S, came for a visit.  We took them to their very first pumpkin patch.  This place was awesome so I think they are going to be disappointed if they ever go anywhere else :-)  

Here's a bunch of pictures from our fun day:

Check out this sweet ride!

The race is on!  Kade pretty much lapped all of us.  Sometimes it pays to be short!!

They had so many cool things for kids to do, you could literally spend all day there and not get bored!

Kade only asked about a million times to go on the hay wagon ride!  Every time the tractor went by he stopped whatever he was doing to watch it.

A couple of handsome cowboys!  I don't think I'd ask them to help on my ranch though because nobody was too successful at actually roping the cow!!

Kade showing off the mini pumpkins he picked out.  When we got home he put one in our room and one in his room.  Very festive :-)

KADE QUOTES:

Every time I pick him up from daycare he asks if I brought him a drink and a snack.  I never do because I come straight from work.  Yesterday, however, I happened to have some candy corn in my purse so I actually did have a snack when he asked!

Kade:  "Did you bring me a drink too?"

Me: "Nope."

Kade:  "Mom, maybe we should put a sink in your car so you can get me a drink next time I ask!"

See?  The kid's a genius :-)

Kade had a really big and stinky #2 the other day.

Me: "Uff da, Buddy!  That is a big, stinky poop!!!!"

Kade (hands on his hips, head cocked to the side):  "Well Mom, that's just what farmers do."

Fall is here!  Actually, we woke up this morning to a little bit of snow on the ground so maybe Fall is gone already?  I never thought I'd see this day come but Kade is FINALLY sensitive to cold weather!  Rain, snow, sleet, -30 or 100 degrees, it never mattered he wanted to be outside which meant I had to be outside.  Don't get me wrong, I LOVE the outdoors but not when I can't feel my toes 2 seconds after going out.  Last night we went for a walk after supper, when we got back Erik and I were looking at our lit up pumpkin and Kade told us it was too cold, went inside and left us outside.  That has never happened before!

I've been complaining about cold weather and snow on its way and Kade always responds, "Well Mom, snow is coming so you better get used to it."  He's too smart for his own good.  Someday he's going to make millions and he's going to buy me a house in the Carribean.  No pressure, little buddy :-)

On a walk in the woods behind our house.  He likes to carry the snow sticks everywhere he goes.  One can never be too prepared, you just never know when you're going to need a couple snow markers!

Getting ready to carve the pumpkin.  He thought he could use his new shovel to scoop out the seeds. Once he realized he couldn't he was done helping me.  Notice the orange snow markers on the left?  Literally has them with him at all times.

He did offer his wheelbarrow for the pumpkin guts and dumped them in the woods for me.  So I guess he did help a little :-)

This year I got one of those pumpkin carving kits.  Those. Are. Awesome!  Much better than the 3 triangles for the eyes and nose and the one big buck tooth in the mouth like I used to carve out.  Kade and Erik played football while I did the dirty work.

The final product!

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Some cute pictures of Kade and his cousin, Violet, enjoying his lazy boy together.  I love the middle picture, look at their feet!  Kade has abnormally large feet and Vi's are abnormally small.  Seeing them right next to each other just makes me smile :-)

Random

The other day I asked Kade if he would be my shopping buddy.  He replied, "No mom, I'm a FARM buddy."  Just to prove his point of not being a shopper, I gave him the option of spending Wednesday shopping with me or going to daycare on his "day off".  Yep, he chose daycare.

We've been stuffing Kade's size 11.5 feet into his size 10 basketball shoes for awhile now so we figured it's about time to update them.  He's been asking when basketball is going to start, he still loves playing and watching all sports!

Playing some tough defense on the Tall Guy.

He stole the ball from dad....

Lines up for a jump shot...

He shoots!

He scores!!

Cutest little defender I've ever seen.

As Kade likes to say, "Wook at that Stud Mans!"

Last week, Grandma C got Kade a Vikings helmet.  He's been carrying it around with him everywhere he goes.  He's also been using it as an excuse to not do things.

Me:  "It's time for a nap."

Kade: "Mom, football players don't take naps."

Me: "Kade, it's too cold for shorts.  You need to wear pants."

Kade:  "Mom, football players get too sweaty in pants.  Football players wear shorts."

Kade: "Mom, I need cleats.  Football players run faster in cleats."

Kade Quote

A little back story: We had borrowed some of Violet's baby stuff, just in case we had a baby girl come home with us last Saturday. This past Wednesday, Jenna and Violet came over for a playdate and Jenna took the baby stuff home.
Also, we have about 3 billion box elder bugs outside of our house right now.

Kade to Jenna: "Jenna, don't take that stuff! It's for my baby sister!"
(heart wrenching, I know. If it's hard for you to read, imagine how hard it was to hear his little voice say it!)

Me to Kade: "It's okay, buddy. She can take it. Let's go sit down and have a talk."

Me: "You remember that girl that had the baby in her tummy? She decided that she wants to be the baby's mommy so she is going to keep her. We won't be having a baby girl live with us."

Kade: "So I don't get a baby sister?"

Me: "No."

Kade: "Oh."

Me: "Are you sad, Kade? Do you want to talk about how you feel right now?"

Kade: "No. I'm gonna go kill bugs."

Oktoberfest 2013

Seeing as how Erik and I look at this blog everyday when we're at work (to see pictures of the big man---since we just can't get enough of him!), it's time to put Monday's post way, way behind us and move on to happier thoughts!

A couple weeks ago we went to the Oktoberfest parade with Owen, Ellie and Rylee.  I did a similar post last year and it was fun to go back and see how much the kiddos have changed in just one year!

This year was a little more relaxed as far as not having to worry so much about them being run over by floats :-) They actually get the concept of staying back now!  Well, except Rylee but seeing as how she's #3, Megan isn't quite as nervous as she was with Owen (#1).  It's kind of a running joke.  Poor Rylee, half the time we just call her #3 :-)  Kade kept a close eye on her the whole time though....she is his future bride, after all!!

Don't worry, the parade hadn't actually started yet so it was okay that all the kids were in the middle of the street, I swear!!

See?  Rylee was in good hands the entire time!

Owen found a good spot to store the candy bag while waiting for the goods to show up.

Kade and Ellie, solving the world's problems.  Maybe they can figure out how to get the government up and running?

Definitely the coolest "float" in the parade!  

Kade and Owen were chomping at the bit to get cool tattoos again this year.  Luckily the fire department came through for us!

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They made scarecrow hats at daycare!  What a goofball.

I had hoped to use this week's post to introduce Kade's new baby sister. However, that was not meant to be. I wondered if I should even bother writing about it because, in the long run, this is such an insignificant blip in Kade's life. I decided that I will, if only to remind us how lucky we are to have had such an amazing experience with Kade's adoption and the relationships we've gained from it.

We found out that a birthmom wanted to meet us in the end of June. Due to so many schedules involved, and the fact that she wasn't due until October, we didn't meet until the end of July. The meeting went well, if not a litte awkward--but they all kind of are at first anyway. She seemed legit, her whole family was on board with the adoption plan and the birthdad wanted nothing to do with it. We never mentioned anything to Kade because he doesn't plan past his next nap and it was still a long ways out.

Then, the end of September, she and her mom wanted to meet again and also meet Kade this time. Okay. Now it's real because she's due any day and Kade's being involved. We have to tell him, we have to prepare him for a baby or a birthmom who changed her mind. We don't want to get him too pumped up for a baby sister, but we need to prepare him for a major life change. That's tough to do with a 3 year old. We told him this: "You know how you came out of Lady A's tummy and she chose us to be your parents? Well, there's a girl that has a baby girl in her tummy and she might be choosing us to be her parents and choosing you to be her big brother." He asked if he could talk to the baby and I said the baby is still in her tummy. That was enough, he had moved on to tractors and other "more interesting" topics.

Fast forward to Thursday, October 3rd. It was my day home with Kade and we got the call that the baby had been born and birthmom was still set on adoption. She had been in labor for 19 hours so she needed rest the first day. The second day was her day in the hospital with the baby so her family members could come meet her. We were to come the 3rd day, Saturday, for discharge to bring the baby home. Plan was set and birthmom was completely okay with it. I told Kade he was getting a new sister soon and he said, "I can't wait to show her my Vikings jersey!". Love this kid. He also said it'd be a good idea for her to have his room and he'd move downstairs. Thankfully we hadn't made any preparations besides washing a load of clothes and cleaning up the car seat! Kade is still in his room next door to ours.

We got to the hospital on Saturday at 10:00. Our social worker sat us down and told us birthmom was having a rough morning. That's fine, it's to be expected--obviously. We'd just wait til she was ready. 3 hours later we were informed she'd changed her mind and decided to keep the baby. I can't say that either Erik or I were suprised. We'd never had that feeling, in the pit of our stomach, that this was really going to happen like we did with Kade's adoption. Kade's situation always felt "right", like it was meant to be. This one never did. I don't know if it's because Kade's was sudden, as in we got the call when they thought Lady A was in labor, and this one was long and drawn out? I don't know, the feeling just wasn't there. That's not to say it wasn't hard to hear the words, "she's keeping her". It was. Very hard. Harder than I thought it would be. I'd prepared myself all along to hear those words but it sounds nicer when it's in your head and it's your own voice telling you that.

Am I angry? Yes, a little. In my opinion, she's not doing what's best for her child. She's being selfish. She's 24 years old, has no education beyond her high school diploma, still lives at home with her parents, the birthdad is not involved and has already proven to be a dead beat dad to his 11 year old. Her parents were urging her to go through with the adoption. That's not a good start to parenthood.  Not to mention, the first time we met her she told us she doesn't like kids and she's never really wanted to be a parent.  Obviously that was her way of coping with the situation, but still...

Am I sad? Yes. I've always pictured myself with a son and a daughter. Now I don't think that's ever going to happen. We've been at this for almost 10 years. We had already decided, before we were even chosen, that we'd be done in June of 2014. We'll be on the adoption list for 8 more months. After 10 years of trying it's time to throw in the towel and move on to the next chapter in our lives.

Can I blame her? No. I've never been in her position. Never will be. It's her child and she's doing what she needs to do. Ultimately it's her choice and she made it.

When we got home I had a good cry and a good, long run. When I turned the corner at the end of the run I looked up and there was Kade, sprinting as fast as he could down the driveway, arms open wide, coming towards me to give me the biggest bear hug his little arms could handle. And THAT, literally, made it all better :-)

Lady A sent a note saying how sorry she was, how happy she is with her decision to have us parent Kade and how much she appreciates us. Sometimes adoptions don't turn out so well, but Kade's has been nothing but amazing and for that, we are grateful.

Erik's cousin sent us a note telling us our family is perfect, no matter what size it is. Wise words from a wise woman--thanks again, Amy :-)

Kade never did ask about the baby. I'm not sure if he forgot, or if someone already took care of that conversation for us. Either way, if he doesn't ask we won't bring it up. Life is still good...and we got a full night's sleep last night :-)

Vacation Part 2

After the wedding in Vail our plan was to go to a cabin, in Estes Park, on the Big Thompson River.  However, I'm pretty sure that cabin is no longer standing as the Big Thompson River swelled to twice its size and is responsible for the major damage in the park.  Instead we headed to Steamboat Springs!

I just have to document, for the future if Kade ever reads this blog, the worst tantrum in history.  It was the day after the wedding, which he stayed up past midnight and woke up at 7:00 the next day.  We knew it was going to be a rough day.  We were ill prepared for how rough it was going to be.  We went out for ice cream, which should make any kid happy, right?  Wrong.  The ice cream was in the wrong dish.  We got a different dish.  The ice cream wasn't mushed up.  We mushed it up.  Finally, after 10 minutes of crying, he tried it.  He liked it!  Uh-oh,  it had melted some and there wasn't enough ice cream left, he wanted more.  I gave him some of mine.  My, different, ice cream touched his (although I can't fault him for that as I'm the queen of food-not-touching...but he isn't.  More than once he's dipped broccoli into ketchup and mustard and devoured it.  I think he was secretly testing my gag reflex).  Anyway, cue the loudest, piercing-est scream/cry ever recorded.  I literally picked him up and carried/ran him to the car which was 4 blocks away.  Erik was left to pay and apologize.  The worst part about the experience?  I still had ice cream left in my dish!  He owes me and some day I'll make him take me back to Steamboat Springs and buy me ice cream :-)

Notice our hands firmly grasping Kade?  That's because behind that innocent looking brown piece of wood is a sheer cliff.  Those are TOPS of trees directly behind us.  Kade had a hand on him at all times during this walk.  I have more than a few gray hairs after that little jaunt!

The waterfall behind us is the one in all of the Coors Light commercials!

This form of travel, on the way back from the waterfall, made me much happier.  A bonus for Erik too because he got a decent leg workout in :-)

We visited one of the natural hot springs, which gave Steamboat Springs it's name.  

Erin and I could even sit in them!  We usually have to avoid hot tubs because of the chemicals.  Although the hot springs did smell a little like boiled eggs but we didn't have anybody to impress :-)

Of course no trip is complete without a little game of pretend baseball!  Everybody managed to hit grand slams in this game!

The Blue Team throwing rocks into a mountain lake.

Kade must've taught Erin his Cheesy Grin!

He found the tip of a broken fishing pole during this hike.  It kept him entertained for awhile, til he broke it when he used it to dig for treasures. 

Funny story about this hike.  We were kind of in the middle of nowhere and there was lots of evidence of wildlife around us.  And it was elk hunting season.  Anyone who knows Kade knows that he's loud, he moves a lot and he never stops talking or making noise.  Ever.  I actually encouraged him to yell as loud as possible, as often as he wanted (which was a lot because there was a fantastic echo off the mountain sides up there!), to keep bears and mountain lions away.  How many gray hairs can a mother acquire on one vacation?!  Anyway, by the end of our nature walk any wildlife that was nearby was now miles away.  As we were walking out of the woods, 3 elk hunters were walking in.  You could literally see the devastation on their faces as the Tornado walked by them.  They had a loooooooong walk ahead of them if they were going to find any elk that day.  

After Steamboat we headed to South Dakota.  We only spent part of a day there before heading home.   This big guy greeted us as we pulled into the Black Hills.

We took a ride on a steam engine built in the 1880's.  Kade asked if it was Thomas the Train we were riding in :-)

All in all it was a great trip!  Kade did AWESOME in the car for that long and I can't wait til our next family vacation.  I think somewhere with a beach, sun and ocean is in order!  I wonder if Kade would object to wearing a life jacket 24/7 on this future trip....