Spring Finally Here

Weather makes such a huge difference in my mood and what tasks I set out to accomplish. I built a raised bed of concrete pavers and it's waiting for the strawberry plants that have been in a bag forever. A friend helped me plant 3 trees. Which is good, because it looks like 2 trees I planted last fall may be dead. We also planted raspberries. I walked around the yard and lots of things from last year are coming up. Of course, I wish I would have moved more little bulbs, but those things will get added with time. I still need to build a lettuce bed. And next year I can add black raspberries and more of everything. See about getting a gingko and maybe adding the deck this year; then grapes... I have a whole new yard to fill up.

Drivers Permit

L got her permit yesterday. Aced the test in about 5 min. She had procrastinated and worried about it. Wanted to take the test without studying and then retake it and I convinced her to just read through the book and she'd have no problem. Then she was peeved because a lot of sections weren't on the test at all. I was peeved because I wasn't thinking ahead and didn't have her birth certif so we had to go to the bank first. Then we got stuck behind a woman in line that took over a half hr. 2 hrs gone from my life for a 5 min test. And I got my license renewed too. Now we get to start driving!

L is going to All State Speech. She has just had a great year - Opus Honor Choir, Best Female Vocalist at one Show Choir competition, top ratings in some of her speech and vocal groups. What remains is musical and dance recital.

If I don't brag about the others as much, it is because the lower grades don't get so many awards. M holds the school's all time record for the most math objectives. She won her shool's science fair last year. E is just finishing her SF project and has been very diligent about it, doing it all herself. I've been trying to read more with S.

MH

Spring Break

Break started Friday. I stayed home from work. Did a lot of laundry. I had plenty to keep me busy, but some kids got bored hanging around the house. They need more excitement.

On Saturday, I worked all day and kids stayed home, except for L who was out of town at a speech contest. She got 3 #1's, the highest she could get. Was nice weather and kids played outside. S went to a friends.

Today, Sun. Church, then shopping. Got S a 1st communion dress - white with small purple flowers. Not traditional, but things aren't traditional any more. They are not having a special 1st communion mass, so a slightly different dress is perfectly acceptable.

Tomorrow, ice skating and Chinese buffet and swimming!

Tues. - I work all day.

Wed. - L&M get vacinnations. No plans after that. Perhaps take cat to vet, sew, clean, exercise, walk, organize. Exciting break.

MH

Disregard the Previous Message

Did I say I felt caught up? After being gone 2 weekends and working 2 weekends, I've fallen behind again. Managed to get the living room/kitchen cleaned and my taxes organized. That's it. And I'm working again this weekend. But then it's spring break and I've taken some time off here and there.

Oh, and besides being a poor housekeeper, I'm a lousy mom and make one of my daughters cry every night.

Back when I first wanted to adopt and I asked my friends with kids if parenting was hard and they told me 'yes,' I didn't believe them. I didn't consider that it gets harder the longer you do it. Most life skills don't work that way. But as kids get older, they seem to get harder. They reach a point where, as a parent, you can't do anything right. Helping another child with homework is seen as cruel favoritism. Everything you say or do is the wrong thing. And if you would have done the exact opposite, that would have been the wrong thing too.

Being older probably doesn't help either. I'm tired. By bedtime, I'm the one who's tired. After an arguement, I'm the one who says, "I don't care any more." And parents just can't give up. They have to hold the line. That's when the husband is supposed to step in and let me get my second wind. A husband also comes in even more handy during the middle/high school years. Lately we have so many activities going on. 4 events for 5 kids last night, so we had to not attend 2 of them. If there were 2 chauffeurs in the family, we could be 2 places at once - a very handy parental skill.

MH

I am so proud of my kids

2009 has been a good year for us so far. I think I've mentioned before that the house is staying neater, I'm catching up on piles and projects. I feel like I have a handle on things. At the moment, all 4 have neat rooms. And I am so proud of the things they are doing, what they are accomplishing, who they are becoming.

E is trying to read 3 hrs. a day. This is up from barely reading at all. She is getting good grades. She got a perfect score on her latest spelling test. Of the words she studied tonight, she only missed 1. She practiced her history flash cards and only missed a couple. I don't know what made the difference. She bought herself an iTouch after carefully looking at options. 5th grade is her year to be in the top class.

M has good grades and is making good choices in middle school. She's still pretty much wants to talk to me and tell me things. She makes very good financial choices and even bought some clothes with her own money when we shopped over the weekend. It's so terrific to watch her enjoy middle school.

L has a great solo in Encore show choir. I've seen her perform twice and she keeps getting better. She is so good in Jazz Etc. too. They got a #1 State ranking. She is now trying out for The Music Man musical. She keeps super busy with so many activities. She is deciding on next year's classes. The H.S. offers so much - I'd like to take some of her classes.

S has a hard time as the youngest. She is in a phase that I've seen the other's graduate out of and I think S will pass through it too. The I want to buy things stage. S has to spend money. She always has to buy things and her interest in them doesn't last long. She always wants more, yet she is so frustrated that she has so many things she doesn't know where to begin in cleaning her room. Last week E helped her sort through everything and figure out what she wanted to keep upstairs. S often feels that people don't understand her. She often searches for the right word and can't think of it. She feels different from her classmates. Yet she has boundless energy and enthusiasm. She's blunt, often rude, but she tells the truth about her feelings of others. She doesn't always tell the truth though. Nothing is ever her fault! She has just learned and accomplished so much in 3 years. She seems a bit stalled out at the moment. I'm sure she is going to have academic trouble as classes get harder and involve more reading, just like E did.

And me, I've been proud of me lately too. I still feeling I can learn and change and improve. I've passed through a bit of conflict at work recently and I can see I have some changes to make, some things I'm not good at. I look back and realize I could have been better. Hopefully, I keep maturing and grow wiser and kinder.

M.H.

New Look

Thanks Donna. I saw you added a colored background to your blog and I went to the same site. Worked very smoothly and even I could do it. Hardly took any time. Very cool looking. Now I should be posting and adding photos rather than playing. L is at Encore and all others are upstairs very quiet. We went to Walmart this a.m. and they came home and did their chores and ran off to play new DS or read new book or use iTouch - as we hooked up Airport Wed. I love the quiet and how neat the house remains, but all these electronics isolate everyone.

MH

Adoption Blog?

Is this an adoption blog? Well, yes, because I have 4 adopted kids. And no, because it's more about being a single, working parent raising 4 kids who happen to be adopted. I've noticed as the years go by, when I first adopted, my life was about adoption, but now that actively adopting is over and the kids are older, my life is about parenting. Parenting 4 pretty normal kids. Yeah, adoption related things are still there, but they're just a small part of life. On the whole, there are plenty of other hassles and sibling and teen drama to deal with.

So yeah, this an adoption blog and this is a single parent adoption blog and an older child adoption blog and a multiple child adoption blog. But it's pretty much about our normal, boring life. No heavy issues. No ongoing issues. Just basically that adoption is pretty normal and ordinary.

MH