Eden and Elly's Theology

Eden: Elly, did you know God is your dad?
Elly: Uh...God is up there, and Dad is outside, vacuuming, uh...I don't know. [he was mowing]
Eden: But God made us, so we are His children!
Elly: I just saw Daddy, we have two Daddies! God is our dad, Dan is our dad!
Eden: Looks like we made God smile right now!

Shadley's Nostalgic Rambling Brought about by Cookie Making

One of my family's favorite things is Cookie Day...it's not a regularly occurring event, just any old day I want to make cookies...but a crowd pleaser, nonetheless. After our adoption party we had lots of M&Ms leftover, so I made Monster Cookies. Oh, these are the best of the best according to my Beloved Husband. He requests them often and when I do make them, he shoves several in a ziplock and indulges at work as well as at home. This is one of the only things that Dan will eat even when he is full. The other is grandma Dorothy's pot roast. Not mine, just hers.

Anyway, when I bake cookies, I get nostalgic. My kids love to help, so I usually wait til they are up and let them stir or crack eggs alongside me, just as my mom did. I remember one day waking up to Brynn standing on a chair with her Ghost Busters t-shirt and green shorts on, her long hair all gnarly from sleep, stirring cookie dough in the early morning. My mom likes to cook right away when she wakes up...she is crazy like that. She also did the Pancake Dance early in the morning. And the 20 Minute Workout...getting sidetracked here...she used to watch lots of kids in her home so she made cookies and other treats for snack time. Once, she even made a PacMan cookie with yellow icing and a chocolate chip eye! It was all the rage. Remember, this was the 80's. Think Slap Bracelets, right Brynnie?

Because I Know You All Are Dying for an Update...

I am sure you on the edge of your seats...you can't think straight without knowing how Elly did without her nuk today! Wait no longer! The Chronicles of Nukia continue!

Elly did fine last night, went down great with a teensy bit of help by daddy (stroking the hair works wonders!). She fell asleep on the way home from Target today so I laid her down and there was no fuss! She is adjusting. I have to say, I believe there are kids that have an easier time with this transistion. I've heard so many people say, "Oh my kid just gave it up on their own." Apparently, I raise little security object fiends. :) I will seriously consider NOT giving one of these pacis again though, because this is just hard! Though #3 could come with one already, so in that case, I will have to deal.

Edenisms, Part 24

To Dad: "Hey, hand me those toys there, Loverboy!"

To Dad, again: "Ok, two things: first, I am raging hot. Second I am about to explode from itching!!"

Two Peas in a Pod

His Glory

Butterflies on the cone flowers.

Beautiful...

Black-eyed Susans.

Asiatic Lilies or as I call them, my "Kim Lilies" since we planted them together at our old apartment we shared before we had kids.

Coreopsis- indigenous to Iowa and grows awesome.

The Many Sides of Elly Lyn Grimes

Glad Elly...

Baby Elly...

Hungry Elly...

Nukless Elly...

Contemplative Elly...

Spunky Elly...

Playful Elly...

Curious Elly...

Ethiopia-Lovin' Girls!

Aren't they sweet in their t-shirts? Still for sale btw...shameless plug.

Below is how Eden occupied herself this morning since she got up earlier than usual. She played store in the kitchen with every single thing in the pantry.

First Non-Nuktified Nap!

Ah, sweet success!! YES! She did it!!!

How Miss Elly Eats Her Bread and Butter

Overheard at the Grimes House this week...

"You forgot your undies."

"We've laundered a few earwhigs today."

"I just started to be like, 'a Snickers every day?' C'mon."

It worked!

Last night went awesome! Elly slept ALL NIGHT in HER OWN BED without the nuk!!! She has always been one to wander into our room and creep in between us, most of the time unbeknownst to Dan or me...we were starting to wonder if it was because she was looking for the nuk in the night. Maybe that is the case because she rocked her own bed last night, baby! What to do Ellzi Bellz!

The Young and the Nukless, Day Two

So Day 2 sans paci went ok. Naptime was non-existent yet again, but Elly fell asleep in the van on the way home from ice skating so we just let her crash. So at least we didn't have the crying. She did not cry at naptime either, just wouldn't lay down. She did not even mention the nuk today at all. She did makes sucking noises as I was laying her down in her bed and she kind of half awoke and looked around for it, but then settled (eventually) and fell asleep. So much for Day 2. This is the farthest we've ever gotten without a nuk! Progress!

The Birds and the Bees

Early this morning, we were out on the front step with our photo albums, looking at pictures while we waited for Addy. We were looking at one of me when I was pregnant, and Elly said, "You tummy is big...because of Daddy."

Edenisms, Part 23

Today as we drove to the theatre to use Elly's nuk as payment for our movie tix, I was telling Elly that it was good that she was giving them up because her teeth were being hurt by the nukie. Eden said, "Yeah, now your teeth can grow big like Momma's like huge ginormous front teeth! I mean, they are so long."

Me: "They are just fine Eden."
Eden: "Yeah, they are fine just the way God made them. They are BIG, but not as big as a rabbit's."

Quite Ellquent, Part 12

"Daddy, why did you give Grammy the stink eye?"

Free cloth diaper giveaway over at babycheapskate!

Gone Baby Gone

We no longer have a nukie in our house. They have been either 1)destroyed by cutting the tip off, stuffing into the nasty trash bag, and thrown out with the trash, or 2) given to the lady at the theatre in a ziplock bag with a note that said "please throw this away" in exchange for three tickets to Wall-E (and some money from mom).

We came home from the celebratory movie and Elly was very, and I mean VERY tired. She had her eyes closed so I took her out of the van and laid her in bed. A few minutes later, she was out and wanting you-know-what. I told her we didn't have them...the next several minutes were consumed by a tantrum the likes of which I have not seen out of this kid (save the last time we tried to take Beloved away).

The reason we are going Cold Nukie is three fold. 1) We want to have this overwith before the new baby comes and we have less bandwidth to deal with it and in case he or she has one too. 2) because school starts in a few weeks and we need to be on a schedule and 3) we saw the pediatric dentist today for Elly's enamel issue and cavity and she said, and I quote, "Throw them in the garbage."

We're gonna need some serious intercession!

'roid rage

So two of the four people in this household are experiencing the side effects of Prednisone (due to poison ivy). Hyperactivity, major hunger, and 'roid rage has definitely set in. Eden was VERY irritable this morning and then seriously cleaned up lunch...Dan is walking very quickly and keeps picking things up so quickly he knocks things over all the time. Though I am banking on my already very productive husband to get LOTS done over the next 14 days.

Flashback Friday (belated)

Oh my this almost makes me sad...these little ones are a lot bigger than this now! Eden looks so little and annoyed at sissy pulling her hair. Some things never change.

Ethiopia Love

This weekend was our Celebrate Ethiopia Party. Months of preparing, planning, and painting were oh so worth it. We had some serious fun and were incredibly blessed by our sweet friends, family, neighbors, and even strangers!! God is good...

So many people helped with this event and we felt so loved and supported by our church family and our community. We had great food, live music provided by a semi-reunion of Dan's old band, a silent auction with artwork and some groovy geodes, and a kids craft area. Turnout was fantastic. Shout outs...
Doug Fern- opening up the Spot to us after our church went under water!
Kinsey- my personal finance manager and curator and my go-to girl for anything and everything I need, I can always count on you...
Claude- for t-shirt and security detail
TJ- for emceeing, donating geodes, and for just being an all around awesome guy with a big ol' heart.
Aaron & Laura- for your neverending friendship and willingness to drive miles for us with tons of kids in your car and one due any day
Greg- for your Tasty McShreddersonness and the way you rock the mic...and how you came straight from seminary to us after a long week without your bride
Jim & Ashley- for driving a long way with lots of kids and rockin' the house
Andy Littman- awesome bass skills and inviting friends! nice!
Rachel & Kedron- for supporting us so, for Rach's awesome vocals (better than I remember!), and for Micah's ability to sleep in a side room while music was blaring just feet away...that kid is awesome and looks like the Gerber baby.
My awesome mom- for preparing food and working tirelessly ALL DAY, she rocks. And for all your grandma duties...the kids think you are the best thing ever.
My grandmother- for sleeping in the top bunk, for cooking and cleaning, and watching our girls all day, and for lookin' stylin' in your Ethiopia Love t-shirt.
Tiel- for coordinating the Kids Craft and just her natural way of socializing and making people feel welcome, and for the bidding war with Kelly & Erek
Brynn- for filling in and making food and for her word of mouth advertisement bringing people in that had no idea who we were!
Will- for helping with set up and making sure kids were under control and cleaning the toy room
My Dad- for the pop collage and the Casey's Run while we drove around RAGBRAI, and being an awesome grandpa
Stubs & Suzi and family- for making the 250 mile trip and surprising me and for helping with set up...not sure I would have known what to do without your help.
Sara, Star and significant others- for being wild and crazy young people and driving all night after getting lots of art!! You guys are awesome.
Phil G- for being our ever-present help and awesome sound man!
To the WardGirls, all four- my long lost sisters, separated at birth...words can't even express how I feel about your help!! You guys have hearts as big as your jewelry :) Love you girls. When I think of your work and your help, it makes me teary :)
Kate, Kelly, Kim, Em, Liz, Kinsey- you are my girls...for your non-stop support and excitement about this process and for praying for us, and for being just as excited as we are about seeing this person's face!

There are people I am forgetting...thanks so much for being there and for sharing our special event with us. We feel blessed and honored to have so many good friends who have such big hearts. We love you guys!

Here are the photos from the party:


Carrie and Scott...I wanna see that picture up in your house! Can't think of a better owner of the Jesus Loves the Little Children piece!

Aaron and Laura...awesome friends from Osky...we go way back.

I didn't get great pics but this is just a little taste of the fun.

The Kid's Craft area run by Tiel; the kids made quilt blocks.

The silent auction- it got pretty fierce!

Bidding...

My sister and my neighbor chattin' it up.

Great friends showed up in support

Abby Stanton, me, Sara Stanton, Star Stanton, and my sis, Brynn- cousins! Some of my cousins drove 4 hours to be there and went back the same night!

And...the piece de resistance...Dan got poison ivy!! AGAIN!!! Yikes. Fortunately, the symptoms didn't really show up til later on in the evening...oh, Dan.

Doesn't She Look Like One of the Hanson's? Like MMM Bop?

You Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'

I guess I am the cool kid in school. I started an all-out blog makeover fest!! If you haven't felt the peer pressure, feel it! Facelift your blog!

Here are the two sites I like:

Simply Chic Blogs

Aqua Poppy Designs

It's really not hard, don't be scared of html! You can do it!

My Loves

Some of my favorite things about my favorite people:

-Elly loves blankets, and by blankets, I mean anything that can be used as a blanket. Wash cloths (baby tao-yuls), dish towels, bath towels, and regular blankets all work. When I am cooking she always nabs my dish towel and soon I find a baby doll underneath it somewhere.

-Elly is obsessed with squirt bottles and spraying water. She also loves washing things in the sink and being "wasser girl." Today she was spraying things outside and I asked, "What are you doing?" She answered, "Just spaying anysing I can wass."

-If you ever say, "Oh, I'm sorry Elly," when she falls down or something, she says, "It's not your fault, it's my fault."


-Eden is still obsessed with books and journals. She is writing animal stories in a little notebook now. She tends to forget all her "precious" things outside though so they often get ruined! She doesn't seem to mind. She has her daddy's absentmindedness and his easy going personality (in some areas!)

-Eden is very excited about Kindergarten!

-Eden is so sweet and nice to Elly and Addy. She helps them work out their disagreements over toys and leads them in fun games.

-They both learned their lesson from the recent rash of naughtiness. I hear them often reminding each other, "Eden/Elly, remember! We're trying to earn back our TV!"

The Big Man

Eden and Elly got to go play with furry little Murray Aker and his parents yesterday while Dan and I ran some errands. Jenna and Andrew were gracious enough to watch the girls in their home and Kinsey Mazunik brought the awesome bag she got from NY and could fit one of my kids in. She likes to make sure that Eden and Elly love her the best, so she camps at all of their babysitters' homes. (There's your love Kinsey)

As we were walking out, we were talking about what they had done with the Akers and Eden was explaining everything. Then, I remembered that I didn't send sippy cups with them (Jenna and Andrew have a brand new and I mean brand new house)...so I asked, "Did you guys have a drink of water with your Subway?" Eden said, "No, we got juice!" Then Elly piped up,

"The big man got us the juice."

A Caterpillar of Our Community

Eden is our budding zoologist, veterinarian, or Jack Hannah...not sure which yet. In the last month she's become obsessed with animals and keeping animals in our house. Dan brought home a couple of small frogs a few weeks back and we had to release them because they wouldn't eat, so we were afraid they were not happy in their takeout-box-turned-reptilian-habitat. So she was bummed. Then when our fun visit to the pet store to "pet" the puppies didn't end up with us taking one home, she was depressed for a good two days.

She loves animal books and especially "learning" type books- like non-fiction, encyclopedia type books. Her latest love is the Butterfly ABC book, where each letter has a corresponding butterfly type. The other day while outside, she yelled to me, "Mom! Check it out! This caterpillar is pupating!!"

So here is the funny story...you knew there was one coming, didn't you? I was outside on the step reading the mail and Eden was drawing rainbows with sidewalk chalk. (Backstory: the kids picked cattails at Beaver Creek so there is cattail fuzzy stuff all over our sidewalk) Eden began to draw over some of the fuzz, then all of the sudden, jumped a mile and yelled, "OhMYGOODNESS IT MOVED!" I jumped up and looked down at the sidewalk where a fuzzy caterpillar with sticky outie hair and a chalk print on his back wriggled on the step. After Eden's pulse went down :) she began playing with it and asking if we could keep it. I told her to make a nice place for it to stay with leaves and grass. She did this and I was proud of her for taking such good care of it. She propped a stick in it in case it needed to make a chrysallis, she said.

Later, we were inside, and I was admittedly reading blogs and trying to figure out my new blog makeover's html. Eden was talking to her little caterpillar friend (whom she had brought in from outside against my wishes, but like I said, I was sort of occupied)...anyway, she took it out on its stick apparently and was twirling around with it on the stick. She got to going a little fast and the caterpillar flew into the air and was gone...Eden says, "Uh oh! I think I flung it a little hard!" At this, I awoke out of my blog coma, and became Angry Mom. "What did you do? Did you throw it? Where is it? FIND IT!!" Caterpillars are basically harmless as long as you don't wear a loin cloth made out of leaves, but they still creep me out and I didn't want one in my house. Eden started looking around and I did too. Under a washcloth, I find it. "Here it is Eden, " I say sternly, "Now take it outside!"

Eden replies, "Oh, yeah. I was going to leave it outside, I forgot. Thanks for the advice, Mom."

They Have Their Moments

Just had to add this picture because it took us about 100 to get a good one at Andy's wedding!

Sammie & Me

Sammie (our niece who is 12.5) is my summertime helper. When she's out of school for the summer, she begs to stay at our house to help me with the girls. We took this picture as we were headed out the door to Fareway and we were laughing hysterically at the apparent difference in our head size!

The girls love Sam and Sam loves them. She is a great helper because she actually plays with the kids and keeps them occupied! Last week I got the whole upstairs clean and a multiple course meal made while she and Kody (almost 16) played with the girls downstairs. There were some wild noises coming from the basement, but I didn't ask questions! :)

You Do the Crime, You Do the Time

There has been a rash of naughtiness at our house lately. Yesterday we were in the tshirt printing shop, aptly named RAGE GRAPHIX, where the kids' behavior was about as bad as it could be. Aptly named because, well, by the time we left, I was in a state of rage and it was about to get graphic.

Then today, the kids decided to get into the mud when I had expressly told them not to. When I stepped inside to get them t-shirts to wear while I hosed the mud off, they covered Elly's bike in mud (and later I discovered, part of the van). They got sent to their room while I thought up the punishment (since the previous day's behavior had already seen their TV time taken away til Monday).

This time we landed on taking their precious dress-up clothes away for an undetermined amount of time. There was much crying and gnashing of teeth.

New Paintings

Two new paintings on my art site! Check them out!

"Everything is changing since we got bonkin' beds and Momma got her earring in her nose."

That was Eden's dramatic statement to the dental hygenist this week. She is too funny.
Here are the pictures of the blessed event, me getting my nose bling!


When I first sat back, the guy just tried to get right to it, so I stopped him and asked for a quick briefing! I like to know what to expect! Emily wasn't sure it was a good idea...I am sure she thought I was going to chicken out. So after he explained the process to me (and showed me the "needle" that looked exactly like a nail!!!), he inserted a small tongue-depressor like thing with a pad on the end into my nose...

and then the needle went into the outer part...ouch that hurt a little...

not sure what this part is, I was getting really hot and closing my eyes tightly!!

So afterward, he cleans out my nose for a REALLY long time and I think he enjoyed it because he continued to do it forever!! I had to ask him to stop!! He was great though.

Here's the new nose! And I am happy to report that after a week, there is no pain and no sign of problems. Other than having what I am lovingly calling a "booger dam," I am happy I got it!

Flashback Friday

You can tell which one this one is by the lips...

The Crazy Furniture Mover

This is to my girls, who hopefully will someday read this when they are older and have children of their own, or maybe even when I am gone and they want to remember their crazy mother.

I am a crazy furniture mover. If you have ever been to my house you know that at any moment, the arrangement of furniture could be different...almost as if it is constantly in flux, whether little by little or rapidly under cover of darkness...who knows? It is a phenomenon.

Today I single-handedly (well, almost) moved three dressers. White dresser out. Brown dresser out. Green dresser out, then in. White dresser in. Brown dresser in. I also moved a small side table from one room to the other. I am a maniac.

I am not sure what is is about me that has to constantly move furniture. Typically, I like things the same. I am not a big change person. But I think artistically I am always looking for a better visual so I move furniture. At least, that is my guess. My other guess is that I am loony. Either way.

So the other day, we were at Panchero's...

That is how all good stories begin, isn't it? Anyway, we were. And Elly was being ornery and running away from us as we stopped to talk to Lisa from the church. I went after her. A man scooted by us to get to the trash receptacle and began to scrape his garbage into it, just as Elly decided to dart away from me again. She thought she was home free and grabbed the jean-clad leg quite high up, and squeezed, yelling, "I got my daddy!!!" The man didn't move and had his back to me, so I thought to myself, "Does he not notice the two year old giving him the high crotch?? Surely!" SO I whisper to Elly to get off, let go, that's not dad, etc. She is not listening and keeps yelling "I got my daddy!!" Now I am laughing, and I try to ever-so gingerly peel her arms off of this strange man's crotch area without actually touching him...she was holding tight and it was difficult...he finally acknowledged the incident and said, "It's ok, I have one of those over there," and pointed to his child. I apologized through my laughter and quickly got out of there!!! Elly had not a hint of embarrassment.

Three Years Gone but Not Forgotten!

It has been three years today that Dian has been in Heaven. We miss her lots but we know she wouldn't come back here if she could, not after what she's experienced :)

So instead of mourning today, I want to remember Dian, to talk about her, to think about her laugh, her poise, her confident smile. I just want to remember her.

If you knew her, please leave us a comment and tell us your memory of her! It sure helps us get through the grief to know that other people loved her and remember her too.

Families Pass Court

Good news on the adoption front- at least for some of our friends! Two of the three families that I know of passed court on the first try so their children are officially "theirs." Very happy day for them! Bereket and Ruby have forever families! Now the families just wait for their embassy dates and they will travel over for that. Yay!

For those of you wondering, here is how I understand the process.

1. Family sends Dossier to Ethiopia where it goes through some steps.
2. Family waits for their referral (we are here right now).
3. Referral is given, this means pictures and any information they have on the child is sent to the family, I believe via email and they have a certain amount of time to accept the referral.
4. Family files official acceptance papers.
5. Court date is assigned (the family will be represented by our agency's liaison)
6. Court date- sometimes more than one try is necessary for case to pass court (due to things beyond family's control)
7. If court is passed, child is officially the family's, and embassy date is assigned (parents must be there for embassy date).
8. Travel to GET CHILD and bring them home!!!!

Ooh La La

Elly and Dan singing their famous duet, "Ooh La La," while Elly dances around.

Elly's Song

Eden Lily Webster

adoption, noun.
"Adopting is when you get a baby or a teenager from another country, not just from a tummy. Like if their parents are sick and they can't take care of the baby or if their parents are very sick and they can't take care of their baby."

Flashback Friday

Ok so this is not flashing back but it is hilarious!!