Would it kill him to smile?

Tyler brought home his football pictures on Friday.


I just don't get why they refuse to smile in sports pictures??
(Pay no attention to the dirty socks. Tyler is in charge of his own laundry, so I have no control over dirty socks. According to him I should just buy him black socks and then you wouldn't know how dirty they are)

The first game of the season was pretty rocky, as even though the rules say there is supposed to be equal playing time for all kids in 7th & 8th grade sports, he only played about 5 minutes of that game. However, since then, he has gotten to play much more. His only complaint is that when he plays offense, on a passing play the QB always throws the ball to another kid. Keep in mind that Tyler is about the 2nd shortest kid on the team, so in defense of the QB, there's a good chance that he doesn't even see Tyler!

Happy Birthday, Baylee!

Baylee's first birthday was on Tuesday. Which means, no more formula....Yeah!!

We celebrated first by going to Happy Joe's for some bad pizza and fun games for the kids.

Baylee enjoyed the birthday sundae, she was even nice enough to share it!

She also enjoyed the game ticket somebody won for her, I personally didn't think it looked like it would taste that good.

By the time we got home, however, Baylee & Amata had both fallen asleep, so we had to wait for cake & gifts until Wednesday.

She enjoyed her gifts, however, Caleb felt that she was moving much to slow, so he decided to help her unwrap them.

Seriously Obsessed!

I may have mentioned before that Caleb really likes balls, and although any ball will do, his favorite by far is a baseball. He also enjoys watching baseball on TV, and of course, being in Minnesota, we watch the Twins.

The other day Tyler was wearing this Twins sweatshirt. Caleb walked up to him, pointed to the shirt and said, "Ball". (Of course, Tyler had to let him wear the sweatshirt after that)

Now, given the fact that Caleb is still very behind in his speech, I'm pretty sure that he cannot actually read. But he is so obsessed with baseball, that he obviously pays very close attention when we watch it on TV to be able to recognize that logo as a baseball item!

Yay, Me!

One of the things I do at my job is payroll and anything related to payroll, including unemployment claims. Because we are a local government, we do not actually pay unemployment insurance, instead we have to pay the state's unemployment division dollar for dollar any benefits paid out that are charged to the city. This does not happen often since the rumors are true - it is pretty difficult to actually get fired from a government job. And if you just quit, then you're not entitled to benefits. However, by default we get several claims a year for our part time employees if they are laid off from their primary full time job. When this happens, I have to file an appeal with the state explaining that the person in question is still employed with the city at or above 90% of their pre-unemployment wages. Normally that is the end of it.


However, in December of 2007, the state had a computer upgrade that apparently did not go well. At this same time, I filed an appeal on for a part time employee who was still employed with us, just like I've always done, and then I filed it away and didn't think about it again. Until I received a bill the following month for benefits charged against the city. That is when the saga began. Since then I have been fighting with the state of Minnesota to try & get this reversed. For NINE months. I've sent letters, faxes, email, made phone calls, etc, and nobody could seem to help me get this resolved. I mean, seriously, I could have gotten pregnant, carried the baby to full term & delivered it in the time it took them to figure this out! (That is just a hypothetical example...under no circumstances will we be having any more children!)


Finally, I'd had enough. I got all of the information together about each time I'd contacted them and all of the documentation showing that this employee still worked for us...and was working more for us than he had in the past and I typed up a letter informing them that if this was not resolved within 2 weeks, I would begin contacting our state representatives until I did get a resolution. I sent that letter to 2 different fax numbers and the snail mail address I had for them.


I actually got a phone call that same day from a lady who wanted more copies of time cards and stuff. She informed me that the date to file an appeal ended before my SECOND request and so she didn't know if they could reverse it. I reminded her that I never received that ruling, which would be their error, so they couldn't hold that against me. She said she'd review everything and IF there was an error, refund our money.

Now I know this isn't "my" money, it's the City's, but let me tell you, after fighting with them about this for 9 months, it might as well have been mine. By this time, I was mad! When I have to submit a check to the council showing unemployment payments being made for an employee who still works for us, it makes it look like I didn't do my job.

Monday morning I came into work and there was a letter from the state stating that they had reviewed everything and found that the city should not have been charged benefits, and those benefits have been reversed out. That was pretty nice to hear.

Then, on Tuesday, I came back from the bank to find I had a voicemail from the director of the customer service area of the state's unemployment department saying, "You were right, we were wrong." Okay, may the "we were wrong" part shouldn't be in the quotes because he didn't say that exactly, but he did say "YOU WERE RIGHT" and that my original appeal had been processed incorrectly!!! The State of Minnesota said that to me!!! I has taken me 9 long months to hear that, but now, it is worth it! I am never going to delete that message. I want to figure out how to transfer it to a tape so I can take it with me if I ever do get out of here. The state of Minnesota is a lot like the IRS - they are never wrong....except this time! Yay, Me!!

Pool Party

We were a little late in getting a pool for the babies this summer. Mostly because of the camper being parked at a site with a baby pool. But that pool was pretty chilly, & Baylee & Caleb didn't get to go to the camper very ofter, so finally in August we picked up a little pool for them on clearance. They all seemed to have a good time.

Caleb got bored after a while & decided to go for a ride instead (Pay no attention to the pinkish swim diaper he has on....I didn't notice they were not very gender neutral until after I opened them).

But Amata was willing to stay & play with Baylee, so all was well.

Not Bad

I did a little shopping on Friday, mostly because I had a coupon for 30% off everything at Kohl's - even clearance prices. Kohl's is my new favorite store.

So, I of course had to go & cruise the clearance racks. I found quite a bit for Tyler & Cameron. Not as much for the babies, though. It's just safer to buy the boys summer clothes, since at most, they usually only go up one size a year. It's a little dicier with the babies, so I don't like to buy that far ahead for them. Except of course for the SpongeBob swimming suit that came with a grass skirt that I got for Amata for $1.70. It's a size 6x, so I have no idea when that will actually fit her, but a grass hula skirt? How can I pass that up?!

When I got home, I sorted the clothes & put the boys' stuff on the kitchen chairs. Then when they got home I told each of them to please put all of their "crap" in the kitchen away. I like to see the surprised look on their face when they see what I am referring to.

I don't always buy the boys much unless they're with me, as they've gotten a little pickier as they've gotten older. Two years ago when I was going through Cameron's clothes with him to see what he was ready to get rid of and he literally got rid of like 80% of his clothes. It was then that I decided we maybe didn't have the same taste in clothes anymore, and that they needed to start picking out their own clothes.

But as Tyler looked through his clothes and started heading up to his room with them, he said, "You're gettin' pretty good at this, mom."

I'm so proud of myself!

One more nice thing...

One more nice thing about living in a small town is that if it is starting to rain when football practice is over and you don't notice, somebody else will give your son a ride. For that matter, even if it's not raining, but you are just too lazy to drive the mile to the field at 5ish to pick him up, somebody else will still probably give your son a ride home.

I might feel worse about this, but last year, the league Tyler was in did not bus the kids to games. Normally the games were on Saturday, but a playoff game was on a school night in a town an hour away which made it pretty tough for a lot of parents. So I went without Chris & the kids and gave 6 other kids a ride to that game. And I took them to McDonalds for a late dinner and bought them all hot chocolate because it was freezing out that night. I figure that good deed should get me through at least the rest of this season, right?

Reserved Parking

While I was shopping last weekend, with Baylee & Caleb - alone with them, I happened to notice some of the reserved parking signs. There have always been handicapped parking, of course, which I'm fine with, although, at times, I do wonder why there needs to be 345 handicapped parking spaces at Wal-Mart. Then there are the "Reserved for Senior Citizens", which are okay, although sometimes questionable; I mean, I can see that a 90 year old may need to park closer than me, but chances are they would already have a disability parking certificate. And there is always the question of what age constitutes a senior citizen in that case.

But I think the signs that get me every time are the "Reserved for Expectant Mothers" sign. I mean, really? When I was pregnant, I was told walking was good for me. In fact, when I was pregnant with Tyler, I waited tables until 5 days before he was born. With Cameron, I also had a job where I was on my feet all day, although I admit I didn't have to do much walking. I understand if it is a difficult pregnancy, or something, but in that case, again, they could get a temporary disability parking certificate. But, seriously, wouldn't it make more sense to have reserved parking for current mothers? I personally found it much harder to walk very far with children in my arms versus a child in my belly.

Escape Artist

He may look cute & sweet, but inside this little guy is a little escape artist!



While Chris took the older kids camping Labor Day weekend, I decided to take Baylee & Caleb shopping...don't ask my why, I guess I am just a glutton for punishment!

One of the stores we went to was Once Upon A Child. I specifically picked this store because inside, they have an enclosed play area for the kids. The walls are at least 3 feet high, and there is no door. It is a pretty small store, square foot wise, so you can always heare them playing...or crying. The theory is that you can place your kids in there to play while you shop & not have to worry about them getting out. But they haven't met my kids.


I was looking at clothes for Amata & I could hear kids playing, so I wasn't very concerned about them. When all of the sudden I looked up and saw Caleb walking towards me with a big bag of super-hero's in his hand! I really have to hand it to Caleb. I have at one time or another placed each one of my children in that play area. And at times they have cried or whined, but nobody has ever gotten out before.

That Caleb's a real over-achiever sometimes...especially when there is a bag of toys to nab!

One Brave Patient

Last weekend, Chris took the older boys & Amata camping. They went toad hunting Saturday night, and I guess the best time to go toad hunting is when it's dark out. Somehow, while hunting, Amata managed to get a hunk of wood stuck under her big toe nail. I wouldn't call it a sliver, because it was about 1/8 inch wide.

Caleb, Baylee & I went out on Sunday to hang out with them. Chris had tried to get as much of it out as he could, but there wasn't much to grab onto, plus Amata would jerk her foot away every time Chris tried. So, Amata and I went off to Urgent Care...oh, what fun. At least we were at the camper, so it wasn't the urgent care I usually go to. However, having what the referred to as a sliver under a big toe does not exactly get you to the top of the urgent care priority list. So we waited, and waited, until we finally got in to see the doctor. Thank goodness they had Cartoon Network on the TV in the waiting area.

As I expected, the doctor said they would have to giver her novocaine shots around her big toe in order to get the wood out. I've had a novocaine shot in my toe before...it hurts! So, I had to hold Amata on my lap and 2 nurses held her leg & foot while the doctor gave her the shots. She screamed during that part, but after that was over, they got her a sucker and she was all better. Once the toe was numb, I covered her eyes while the doctor worked on her toe. Amata wanted to watch, but I didn't think it would be a good idea.

The doctor ended up cutting all the way down to the base of her toe to get the remaining bit of wood out...it was only about 1/4 inch long. After that she got her toe taped up and was ready to go, along with some antibiotics, just in case. The closed pharmacy was only about 5 minutes away, but Amata was sleeping be the time we got there. She slept all the way through the store, back to the camper and on the couch in the camper for over an hour. I guess all of the excitement wore her out. She hasn't complained once about her toe hurting since it happen, so I'd say we got off pretty easy!

Carnival

A couple of weeks ago, our town had their annual celebration, complete with a "carnival" (if you consider 8-9 rides a 3 games a carnival), a parade & food. And no matter how much I do not like "Carnies", it's kind of a requirement to partake in the celebration. So every year I buy ride tickets and we go & try to use them all.

We headed down right away the first night because Chris & Tyler were going to be gone the rest of the weekend. The park is only about 8 blocks from our house, so we decided to just walk down. We planned to start with dinner, but unfortunately, Caleb couldn't quite make it.

The nice thing about it is that almost all of the food is at booths put on by local church's & youth groups, so you don't end up paying normal fair prices. We fed our whole crew a hot dog or brat, chips, a cookie & a 20 oz bottle of pop for just over $20. We can't even do that at McDonalds (and certainly not Subway).

Then, we headed over to the rides. The ride tickets are MUCH cheaper if you buy them in advance. So I asked both the boys how many tickets they wanted, and the each stated they wanted a full strip. However, when we got to the rides, Tyler decided he "wasn't in the mood" to go on rides and didn't use a single ticket. I was not happy. Sure the other kids managed to use them, but I wouldn't have bought them in the first place if I knew he wasn't going to ride. I think one strip of tickets each is plenty.

Besides, since he wasn't going to use any of his, that meant that I had to take the other kids back the next day...by my self! That was not in the plan! There was one positive, however. Caleb was not in the mood for rides, either, after his snooze on the first day, but he was a little more daring on the second day. Cameron was a real trooper, he went on the rides with Caleb & Amata

...including the slide that Amata was addicted to. She must have went down that 10 times...and there is no escalator to the top, either; you have to walk up all of the steps every single time!

Caleb tried the slide, too. He thought it was okay, but he wasn't nearly impressed with it as Amata.

Cameron & Amata even tried the octopus...Cameron really liked that one, Amata didn't like it as much.

Caleb's favorite ride was the helicopter.

They got brave the second day & enjoyed some of the rides by themselves.

The last day we enjoyed the parade. We sat on a block that didn't have many people (as it was not in the shade...) so the kids got a ton of candy.

Baylee even got to enjoy her first sucker at the parade.

We have a date

We finally received permission from the MN Dept of Human Services Commissioner to adopt Baylee & Caleb. Our court hearing is scheduled for the afternoon of September 23rd. Which means, they SHOULD legally become our children on that day. I stress the should, however, because as we have learned, nothing is ever certain.

Our court date with Amata was in mid-July last year, but her adoption wasn't able to be finalized that day because on July 1st there was a law change that all adoptive parents had to be fingerprinted and have a new background check done after the fingerprinting. But, they of course did not have the correct cards to use for that fingerprinting until around July 10th. And of course, since it had not previously been required, they had quite a few to do at that time, so even though they SAID it should only take 5-6 days...ours took three weeks. And when ours did finally come back, the judge was on vacation. And as we all know, when you get back from vacation, there is always a lot of work waiting on your desk, so you can't always get it all done right away. It was mid-August before her adoption was finally done.

However, barring any new law changes between now & then, or any major catastrophes, it should happen on the 23rd. I’m just surprised it’s happened so soon... Caleb won’t turn 2 until the end of October! (24 months is supposed to be the statutory maximum time frame for a child to be in foster care until they are adopted.)