Thank you Michael Jackson

Last week, my boys had a play date at "Aunt Rinnie's" house with their best friend Tyson.
They came home with a new obsession.
Michael Jackson.

Now, while I would NEVER want my boys to meet the man in person, I can't help but LOVE his music.
His songs and his videos were a huge part of my tween years... I listen to Smooth Criminal and think of Todd and Ted McClellan performing their routines all over town. I hear Thriller and think of my high school cheer tryouts. I think of Bad... and well, I think of Weird Al.

Anyway, I had to get some shots of my kids dancing to the King of Pop.
Enjoy.

Bubba does a mean wave. Check out the focus and determination in his face!

Bellyome's great skill is her facials. This is her "thug" look.

Magoo's move of choice is a spin. That is all she has got

B-Man is on a breakdancing kick.
He is even taking classes from a boy who danced on High School Musical. 1, 2, AND 3!
Who knew that a 7 year old boy would think that was so cool?!?!?

Winter in Review

These pictures are out of order, but I am too lazy to do anything about it.
To the two of you who read this blog, please forgive me.

Our winter was full of sick children!
All told, we had both girls sick with over 104 degree fevers as a result of kidney infections and Bubba was diagnosed with asthma and viral bronchitis.
Fun times

This is how we spend our Sunday evenings... folding clothes.

B-Man was awarded with the Principal Pride for the month of January.
Love that little man!

Our new favorite family home evening activity is ice skating. This is a pretty terrible picture of the kids' actual skills, but I cant help but love B-Man's spread eagle on the ground!

The snow in our back yard took two months to melt! The kids liked it for about three days, and then they collectively decided that they would like to move to Florida with me. We are still working on convincing daddy.

I think that we chose "THE COLDEST NIGHT EVER!" to visit Temple Square this year. We had a fabulous time, but I've got to be honest... we spent more time driving there and back then actually looking at the lights.

We had a princess party with our friends to celebrate and watch The Princess and The Frog. We had such a fun time. The only down side was Magoo's stomach that was covered with hives as a result of wearing her princess costume to the movie

So... there you have it. Our winter in review.

Jesus was adopted

Sometimes, I am amazed at the insight of my children.
Like the other day...
Belly-ome was sitting next to me in the tub.
She started to talk about all of the people that she loves with her beautiful, 3 year old heart.
"I love Jesus and Heavenly Father," she said.
I asked her "Why?"
She responded by saying "because Jesus died for me so that I could live with Him in Heaven again... and mommy, Heavenly Father is Jesus' first daddy."

Now, we as a family talk about "First" Families all of the time. This is the terminology that we use for B-Man and Belly-ome's biological families. So, when Belly-ome used this term, I understood exactly what she meant. I will be honest though, I was amazed that she had made this connection.

"Who adopted Jesus?" I asked.
"Joseph did. But Mary was his first mommy." She said.
"Jesus was adopted just like me and B-Man, right mommy?"
And then she added, with a hint of pitty... "but not Magoo and Bubba?"

Bless her heart, Belly-ome feels sorry for my biological children. How sad is it to her, that her brother and sister do not have something so beautiful and significant as adoption in common with Jesus. Even Bubba feels sorry for himself and has taken to calling one of his aunts his first mommy just in order for him to not feel left out! :-)

It has been a fear of mine, since the moment that Nate and I decided to adopt, that our adopted children would feel the stigma of being "less than" because of their adoptions.
That fear has no place in our home as long as my daughter and son continue to see their story in the One who was sent to earth to bring us home.
What a blessing all of my children are.

Moments like these...

On Monday, our family went out to eat with our surrogate brother/cousin Austin.
On the way home, JoJo (my sister) started a rousing game of "I Spy"
Second round in, she says "I spy something black"
Belly-ome immediately responds... "ME!!!"
Love it.

On Tuesdays, the boys take a breakdancing class.
They love it.
There is a girl in the class that B-Man asked me about last night.
B-"mommy, that girl in our class is brown but she has blond hair?"
Me- "yes. That is because her mommy is white and her daddy is black."
B-"but she is brown and she has blond hair... how does she do that?"
Me- "because some of her is like her mommy and some of her is like her daddy."
B- "you mean she's NOT adopted?"
Me- "No, son. That is her first mommy that she comes with every week and her first daddy is black just like you."
B- "SHE'S NOT EVEN A LITTLE BIT ADOPTED?????????"