Steve the Mechanical Genius

For almost ten months, our printer/copier/scanner/fax hasn't been working at all. I kept hoping that Steve could take it apart and fix it even though he isn't particularly mechanical. I was also dreading it since I assumed that it would then be broken beyond repair and we'd have to save for a new one. It's not a necessity but it's definitely a convenience with all of the paperwork that has to be sent, especially for Zeke. So last week Steve finally worked on the printer. A mere few minutes after he started, he let me know that it was working again. I didn't believe him at first but then he showed me a paper that he'd printed. As I gushed over his mechanical ability, he just smiled. Then he told me that the problem we had for the past ten months was that two pencils had fallen into the paper feed. He removed them.

More From Anthony

Tonight Anthony left his cup sit on the table until he was almost done with supper. Then he peered into his water and wondered aloud, "Hey! Who stole my ice?"

Reason #456 Why I Don't Do Daycare

At the risk of embarassing myself, here's another good story. I was watching my friend's 7 year old son, M, this morning. When she came back to pick him up, a couple of kids were playing nicely with toys in the dining room, but no M. Another was playing in his bedroom with Magnetics, but no M. As we're wandering through the house calling for M, I'm thinking, "Great, I lost her kid." Finally I ask Riley and he tells us that M is in the zoo. "The zoo?" We follow Riley downstairs. Now I'm not the best housekeeper in the world, but our house is generally clean and mostly picked up. However, there's one room in the house that's different; the storage room. There are totes nicely stacked along the back wall and shelves that are organized, but it is also a giant dog kennel for our two dogs. To get there, you have to go through the laundry room. Instead of a door, there is a very large dog gate. And of course when we looked into the room, the dogs had pooped in there because Brit forgot to let them out this morning. So basically M and Taylor were playing behind bars in a room with a cement floor and dog poop laying around. Should we take bets as to whether or not M gets to come over and play again?

View of My Bed in the Morning

This is why I never sleep in! Four kids in my bed and the little one said, "Roll over. Roll over." Seriously, it's great that they all want to snuggle with me. . One of the hard parts of foster parenting is that we're expected to treat foster kids like our own kids but there are certain regulations that we have to follow that make that really hard. One is that foster kids aren't allowed into your bed. It's obvious why they have rules like this in place but it's sad that it's necessary. It's all about protecting the children. Although it's really hard when a needy child just wants to be loved and snuggled like the other kids and I have to figure out a way accomplish that when they see my other kids climb into the bed and cuddle with me and they can't. For quite a while, no one was allowed onto our bed so it was nice once the boys' adoption was finialized and I could let the kids come to me in the night after a nightmare and just hold them and let them fall asleep in my arms. *** Here's a blast from the past. I think my sister and I must have been getting along on this particular morning :)

20 Days

20 Days until school starts!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! But who's counting? :) The four older kids start school on August 19. It was actually a short summer since they got out of school fairly late and are starting really early. I love having the kids home and doing fun summer stuff but I'll definitely be OK when I can clean my house and have it stay that way for an afternoon. Five days a week I won't have to make lunch because Anthony and I usually just eat leftovers from the day before. There won't be any arguing or fighting during the day, unless Anthony and I decide to beat each other up or something :) Did I mention that in only 20 days school starts? I'll also be able to blog some of my thoughts to go along with all the pictures. It's hard to keep a cohesive train of thought going when there are fifty million things going on around you. And I can't wait to talk to some of my friends again. At the begining of summer I told them, "See you in the fall!" 20 days and counting.........

Riley's Trophy

Tonight was Riley's last night of T-Ball for the season. He's so proud of his trophy!

More in the Pool at Home

Pool at Home

My sister Heather and I finally filled the pool at home today. It took forever to fill so we let the kids play in the water as it was filling. By the time it was finally filled, the kids were tired of being wet.

Dressed Alike

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Someone asked me the other day if my mom used to dress my sister and I alike and I told them I didn't really think so. Then as I was going through old pictures today, I noticed that not only did my sister and I dress alike, apparently my mom and I also had a matching outfit!

Zeke

The first picture of Zeke was taken a month before he moved into our home in 2006. The second picture was taken in 2007, after having been with us for a year. Sometimes when I'm feeling like I'm just treading water, I look at these two pictures together and praise God for how far we've come!

Biological Family

All the Torres siblings. (My aunts, uncles, and mom)

Papa T (my grandpa) and his four sisters.

Biological Cousins

Happy Torres cousins.

My Mom's Family

Uncle Barry Aunt Patsy My Dad & Mom

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Aren't they cute? :)

Free Pictures

This afternoon I took the kids to a local hotel to be models for the Lifetouch photography company. That's the company that takes most of the school pictures in the area. A friend of mine is the manager at the hotel and she called me a few weeks ago to ask if I wanted to bring in my kids. They had lots of cameras set up for training the photographers. The kids went around to all the camera and had their picture taken twice by each person. In return for our time, I get a free photo package for each kid. You know me, always up for free stuff!

Archery

This morning Riley, Taylor and I rode our bikes up the street to shoot archery. It was for the kids but my good friend Allen taught me, too. Even my mom got into the action!

Tub-O-Rama

Yesterday Steve & I had a meeting at our house with our contractor. I asked Brittney to keep the kids busy outside until we were done. After the contractor left, I went out to the back yard and found the kids with their swimming suits on, a rubbermaid tote half full of freezing cold water and Brit with a water hose. Brittney was yelling, "Come on in to the Tub-O-Rama!" Then when some poor younger sibling would climb into the tote, she would hose them down. Apparently the winner was the kid who stayed in the tote the longest.

Making Memories with my Brother

The pictures of the week with my brother and his family are now done but the memories will live on forever! If I sound a little sappy, it's because I am. The kids had fun and we all relaxed and enjoyed each other's company. One favorite thing has become tradition. My brother Jody gets a fire going each night in his large firepit. The kids would tell you that they loved the s'mores but my personal favorite happens later. When the fire starts to die down and one by one everyone else goes to bed, my brother and I just sit together. We laugh, talk, cry (ok, just me crying, not him. He listens sympathically), and sometimes we just stare into the fire without having to say anything at all. It's become one of my favorite traditions with my brother.

Cousin Fun

Cousin's Warfare

Alex Says

The best kid's quote of the whole weekend goes to my nephew Alex, who is 8 and apparently has no idea about the value of a pound. . When my brother Jody started piloting the pontoon back towards shore, his son Alex asked him why. When Jody let him know that we were going to pick up his mom so she could fish with us, Alex shook his head and said, "Great. There's another 352 pounds on the boat!"

Fishing

Riley caught the first fish of the day, sort of. His bobbin was going down and Uncle Jody told him to reel in because he caught a fish! But Riley was being his usual Riley self and proceeded to argue and say that he hadn't caught a fish. By the time he got half way through his argument, Jody had helped him reel in his line and sure enough, there was a fish on the hook! The reason we don't have a picture is because Riley wasted so much time arguing and not enough time reeling and so, as the fish was coming out of the water, it got off the hook and jumped back into the lake.

Lunch

Uncle Jody grilled our lunch on the pontoon and the kids got to throw bread out to the seagulls.