Should I fade or should I fro now?

I have been LOVING not "maintaining" Bear's hair lately. It has gotten so long. I was really just being lazy by not cutting his hair, but then I started liking it and wanted to see how it would look long-er. So it has just been growing.

I do say he sports it quite nicely either way it goes.

But just for some fun and incentive what do you think we should do with his hair? I have gotten a lot of "let it grow" s out there. What do you say my fellow blog readers?

Fade, or

grow?
I am looking for a barber that will cut his hair from now on. I have tried my hand at it and though it looks decent it is NOT going to continue being acceptable!

All tied up

What do you do when a little girl as cute as this takes off in your boots?

Why, help her tie them of course!

chalk it up to the A's

This morning was time to hit the floor running, getting back on track from the little break we took. Since Miley Bird has left we have been kind of off track. Getting things put away and rearranged. All rooms have taken on a new look and are still in the process of being painted/decorated and created.

But I figure it is time to get back on the learning track for Bear. He is so much more well balanced when we are in a learning mode and I LOVE that balance.

Today we practiced writing the letter A.

I would start with writing the letter on the board. Then I would write half of one and he would finish it. Three tries later he was making his own A's.

Here is a bonus drawing. He has been drawing "pershuns" since Thanksgiving and they have evolved to stick figured drawings.

He is still learning the chalk motions so it is choppier than on his magnadoodle but still...it is AMAZING!

Wachsmann Christmas fun....

The weekend before Christmas we had a little party out here at our home with SOME of our friends! (AHEM..LOL).

We got into the fun of the Christmas story, complete with live characters and "Nigile" (Bear's crocodile) as Baby Jesus. Bear got to play the part of Joseph... HOW EXCITING that he "fathered" the Messiah. He did great.

It was a great night of food, fun, laughter

and roasting mallows for smores.

The night before Christmas we had all things set up and waiting for the recipient to awaken the next morning. I LOVE a Christmas tree all lit up and glowing inside :) Makes my heart happy and warm.

I received a gift in the mail from a precious friend to celebrate our precious daughter, Ymali "Emma" 's, birthdate. It was December 5th. I have not posted about it... I was in full busy mode (with a messed up ankle). The gift was a tiny bracelet with her name on it. I hung it on our tree and there started the tradition of ornaments on our tree. I will say it is by far my favorite ornament. I need to make two more now one for Samuel and one for Olivia Grace. I think I had one at one time with Olivia's name on it from J's sister. Maybe it is at his parents house.. hmmm.

J and I opened our stockings the night before (I stuffed mine so that one is a no brainer...lol). We got lots of fun stuff and new movies.

I had gotten my Christmas gift a few weeks early (My canon Rebel T1i) so I didn't actually open a gift at our home Christmas morning. I had lots of opportunity to catch everyone else in action and that was pleasing enough.

I made a breakfast of Biscuits and sausage gravy with scrambled eggs and fresh fruit and juice. We then got dressed and went over the the rents house for more Christmas fun.

I received a KITCHEN AID MIXER from the rents!!! I am super excited about it! I also got some fun clothes from J's sister, she's got great style. Maybe some day soon I will be thin enough to look good in cute clothes. Later we met up with my mom and dad and received our gifts from them... I got a.... wait for it...wait for it... stand mixer! LOL I mean what are the odds that I'd get two mixers in ONE day! haha. I loved that they thought of me enough to get me one also! From my sister I got a puzzle picture frame! It is so awesome. I will have to post a picture when I get it together so you can see for yourself the fun in it all!

This year we drew names so we were not as strapped for money trying to buy for everyone. J got a Blue Ray DVD player from his parents and a fun flashlight thingy from his brother. It came in handy seeing that our electricity to our laundry room has gone out. Not sure what is going on but the outlets on that wall and the lights on that circuit are not working anymore. hmmmm. So now I hang that light in our laundry room to do laundry at night. Thankfully our washing machine and dryer are on a separate circuit and still work fine!

Bear received a huge life size sock monkey and sock monkey jammies from his 2 year old cousin (who drew his name). It is now his favorite wrestle buddy. He loves it! From his Nana and Pawpaw he got a train table and we got him his train station. He got a Glo Doodle from his Aunt BJ and cousins. From my mother (Also Nana) he got a kitchen set and a keyboard (that for some reason DOES NOT HAVE A VOLUME button!!! Thanks for that! LOL it stays in his room with ear muffs on each speaker!


We are now in the process of having a fun bed loft made for him. My Uncle is an amazing carpenter and I have drawn up the plans for him to construct from. I will be taking them over to him soon and he says it should take a weekend to complete. It is a loft bed with a slide. And a tent (that I will sew) below. I am super excited that he will have something created just for him!

Hope your eyes are still in tact from all the pictures and reading. Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas with the ones you love and that it will forever be memorable!

Bear's Adoption tree(s)

My friend Mandy bought Bear a tree to commemorate his adoption. She waited for this particular one to be in season so it has taken until now to get it. I am glad she did.

We are now the proud parents of not only a handsome little boy but a Bald Cypress tree to boot! I absolutely LOVE it.



And there's a bonus, a Texas Red Bud tree! When she ordered the Bald Cypress, the company also "threw in" a Texas Red Bud.



She was just going to keep that one but they were camping out in the same bag so she gave us both! How sweet! Thank you so much Mandy!

My aunt came over today and planted them finally. I have been wanting to but my ankle wasn't allowing for anything like that. SO I called and humbled myself to get some poor trees planted in the ground! I sure hope they withstand the FREEZING COLD that is coming.

My aunt says they should be fine. I PRAY they will!

Bear's Blessings

Tristan has now gotten to the point where he blesses our/his food before we eat.

It sounds something like this..

"Jesus, thank you (for) food. Bless it, mershing (nourishing), Amen".

I have been VERY UNSUCCESSFUL uploading videos to blogger but they upload to facebook just fine. So here is the link to my facebook page to view him in action.

http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=1306155782531&saved

If you are not a "friend or network" it is set to private so just request my friendship :).

We have also been teaching him scripture. He has learned "I am a Mighty Man of GOD" and right now he is working on "I can do all things through Jesus Christ who strengthens me". He is doing great. We want him to have the word of GOD tucked deep in his heart.

It has already been a blessing to hear him when he is in his room going to sleep singing Jesus LOVES Me. He will also say a prayer as he is in bed. I will hear him through the door, "Jesus, thank you food. Bless it, mershing. Amen".

It makes my heart happy that he knows to pray and he gets the idea of it. But as of now that is the consistent prayer that he knows. We pray throughout the day but they are all "new" prayers and from the heart... not consistent wordage. But he gets that we pray throughout the day. Even when we are driving down the road (when I do a lot of my praying) he will pray his food blessing from his car seat.

Oh LORD help us to raise a fisher of men. A man on fire for you that will keep YOUR WORD burning in his heart for all the days to come. When trials come he will KNOW that you will bring him through. YOU will sustain him. JUST as you have sustained us in this family through it all! -AMEN

You know...those dreams

The ones where everything seems so real and you wake up looking for all that just happened to be staring you in the face.

Yeah that kind.

I had one last night and in this dream I had given birth to a baby. And it lived. I was getting to take it home and everything. My very own.

This morning I woke up and let's just say I am very heartbroken today. Depression is looming and I am fighting back tears. I am losing. I feel like such a failure...

Why do they have to be SO REAL. So real you can taste it, hold it, breathe it, take it home...

What is the purpose for dreams such as these. The devil is close by like a prowler lurking in the dark. He knows where I have been hit hardest and here he comes in my weakness to get that one final blow in that will bring me to my knees.

His prey, he has caught me.

OH LORD DELIVER ME FROM THE GRIPS OF THE ENEMY. DELIVER ME FROM THE PIT OF BROKENNESS AND DESPAIR. I fight back tears but they overtake me. I feel so defeated I just want to lay down and become dust yet again. I feel there is nothing left in me. I feel like I have given EVERYTHING and still I am being chased down again and again for another kill.

Wouldn't you think the enemy would get tired of chasing after someone so DEAD.

Then again maybe he is just waiting for the victory.

I will fight with a supernatural strength. Because when I can no longer stand up I will CRY OUT and HE, MY GOD, WILL hear my cries and HE will come in and FIGHT on MY behalf. HE will be the VICTORIOUS ONE!

And I, I will fall to my knees, humbled, broken and totally in awe of the ONE who LOVES me without fail. Even when I am weak and devoured. He will love me in this place.

What child labor laws?

First we start out with a bit of prayer, Bible reading (ignore that it is upside down) and worship. We even make sure Duke gets in on the action.

Then it is time for chores. Vacuuming the floors are first on the list.

Wow that is a hard day at work. Wake up Bear baby... next is laundry.

Fun find and pictures

I have been busy and I am sorry. I have shut out all things communicative basically and even some of my friends have been neglected. I am sorry for that as well. I have, however, been super productive on the home (photography) front.

I have been taking pictures for our foster families. We were on a mission to get all families within our foster agency photographed with their families before Christmas. We succeeded. I shot 35 total I believe. Some of us may not have any friends left or maybe even children that don't remember our names, but by golly we got to bless all the foster families with free portraits. Even Wal-Mart stepped up and printed free 8X10's for each of our families from the photo shoots. Our precious foster families have been blessed indeed!

It is hard to share with you some of the shoots I have been doing b.c we cannot post pictures of our foster children (in any family) but last Saturday I shot a family that I am friends with and a few weekends before that I shot another friend and her siblings. I am super excited and am having so much fun learning new techniques.

This first few are of my sweet friend Abigail. She wanted some pictures taken of her and her siblings for her parents for Christmas. I obliged. She is way too photogenic!! :) Such a cutie!



The second family (and the fun find part of my post) are the end result of my friend Candy's shoot with her two PRECIOUS kiddos! I mean I could no better hand pick such GREAT kids! They are so very polite, generous and very helpful. They are amazing and model after their amazing mother truly! I love this dear family.

(you see this fun green chair... It was sitting behind this "abandoned" building downtown and I asked the guy in charge of leasing the building 'because he just so happened to be there that day' if we could buy it from them. He said we could just have it!!! Thank you Jesus... so we used it for some fun RR track pictures!)

My sister and I also decided to shoot some pictures for our Mom and Dad(s) as well as our grandmothers.

Sorry for neglecting you all and hopefully now for a while I will have a bit of a time where I can share with you more and jump into blogging.

I do have 2 more families coming up this Saturday so hopefully after that I will have a bit of some down time to enjoy the Christmas season and all that entails for a little while before jumping into 2010.

All the things

I could have been doing today... I didn't get to do.

I DO have TWO praise reports so I will start off with those!

I got a call about my Canon Rebel yesterday; I have it listed on Craigslist for sale. The guy that calls me is interested in it and so I offer to meet him in town today so he can take it for a "test drive". He agrees.

I met him today with camera in tow. We meet with my husband at Schlotzky's and let he and his friend ooh and aah and push buttons and take brilliant pictures with the new lens that was nestled on it.

He falls in love and hands me cash. THANK YOU LORD we were able to sell it for what we were asking.

J, Bear and I go inside Schlotzky's to go eat lunch together. We get to enjoy eachother for a bit before J returns to work for the rest of the day (meaning he gets off at 10:30 most nights).

*************************now not so good parts**********************************

I go to my car and get puffy jacket wearing Bear snapped into his car seat and get myself strapped into the driver's seat. Turn the key... "tick, tick, tick". UM NOOOOOOOOOO!

J is there still and he goes to get the UPS package truck and tries to jump our Sequoia off. NO LUCK. I end up calling our repair shop and they send a tow truck after me to bring us all in (THE HIGHLIGHT OF BEAR'S DAY I TELL YOU, this boy LOVES big trucks. The driver even honked the horn for him several times... smiles beamed!!!). From there the mechanic shop brings me and Bear home, where we sit stranded, needing stamps, lettuce, and tortillas. But that's beside the point.

They say they will not be able to get to it until tomorrow to take a look at it. G.R.E.A.T!

It is no joke when they say God provides right when you need it! Can we say I can imagine that the job is going to be somewhere close to what we sold the camera for!!! hmmmm

I had plans to head an hour and a half north to meet up with a URL/IRL friend, NUTTY MOM, who just brought their precious little man into the beaming lights of the world today. She asked me a while back to be there when he was born to capture his first moments. Well a little bit after recovery for her for sure. But just to be there to photograph him in the beginning and them as a family. I was floored to have this opportunity and privilege.

I was able to find childcare and had my new camera packed up and ready to go. BUT this too fell by the wayside with a dead car! I am thankful I didn't get all the way an hour and a half north before it broke down! But I am sad to say the least. I am sad I missed the entrance of this beautiful little boy! I do know that I will have plenty of snuggle time with him soon ... until then I will have to ogle over his pictures that his mother keeps teasing me with! :O)


EAT.HIM.UP Beautiful!

Bear sings the Alphabet..... LIVE!

I cannot get it to upload to blogger for some reason but the video did upload to my fb account. It is set to private but if you want to see it add me as a friend and you can see it too.

http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=1292150312403&saved

********************************************************************************

ORIGINAL POST:

Here it is in all it's glory ladies and gents. So he was a bit upset in the beginning b.c I wouldn't let him climb on me anymore to sing the song; BUT I was finally able to get Bear singing the alphabet on video!!!

I finally got a Camera with video on it yet again and I cannot tell you how much I have been missing being able to watch videos of our sweet little ones grow (you know when they are sound asleep and you are LOVING the fact that they are all peaceful...

I am still sad we didin't have a "video" camera to get Miley while she was still with us. Or even Moe as he was getting bigger. But at last we are able to pick back up video recording Bear as he grows and develops.

And yes at the end he tells me that he has to potty! LOL

Mind the folded laundry everywhere... this is what was going on instead of putting THAT away! I liked this better.

So the other day we were leaving for Church and Bear always has to say "Bye Becky" when we pass by my aunts house next door. Usually we all chime in "Bye Becky"and wave at her house. But this time we just let it go unsaid. Well Bear was NOT okay with this. He said "mommy, Becky". I then obliged and said "bye Becky". Bear, "Daddy, Becky". J then, too, obliged. As soon as J's "bye Becky" left his lips, Bear nonchalantly says "Dood djob Daddy." Nice, I am glad to have the approval of a 2 year old.

A few days ago Bear was in the bathroom doing "his thang" when he starts telling me he is done. I go in there and assist the pulling up of the pants and as he is flushing the toilet he starts walking out and says, "bye, have a good day". Hmmm yes, have a good day indeed mr. toilet!

This little guy is growing up so fast and it makes my heart happy to see the little man he is becoming! He is so precious to us and we couldn't have asked for a better son. And we can say that because we DID ask/beg/wait on pins and needles for him :). And we are glad we did!

wow okay this is attempt no 2! I sat for 4 hours yesterday before having to leave it for the night. I finally go to bed and get up this morning and it didn't post it! UGH AFTER 4 HOURS and ALL NIGHT!!!! sheesh man.

Christmas is upon us

WOW it is barking at my back door louder than our dog does (truth be told he doesn't bark much at all). I cannot believe it. It's like I looked up for a second to check reality and >BAM< the Holidays are here, one being already gone.

I think the older I get the faster all the holidays seem to come and go. Sheesh. Like let's just speed up this process man... gooooolllllly. Maybe it is just that when I was younger I didn't have as many cares or stresses as I have now so the days played on unhindered (well for a kid).

Now that there are said stresses and cares I am pushing on to get to the end of the day so I can have a break from chores, editing, cleaning, Bear, cooking, "organizing". I need to get a umph in my step and enjoy the days as they come and not dread them due to the things that need to be done in them.

Our cat Charlie is still missing since Sunday night. I have searched our land and all the surrounding lands and he is nowhere to be found. I did, however, find a dead dog/coyote (hard to tell really) and a dead opossum. But NO Charlie!

Bear is doing great. He has been learning all his numbers. He can now count to 20 (with some help here and there). He has been learning to write his letters and can now sign about 5 of them. It is still hard for him to position his fingers just right. Although, he can tell you what all the signs are of the alphabet when shown.

We have been working with him on "reading" (memorization really). I made him some index cards with a picture of an object/animal on them with the word written out to the side. He can now read cat and dog. I have not been working as consistently with him on that as I have with his writing and numbers lately.

J and I have been working on labeling all the things around the house to help aid him in learning to "spell and read".

He has not really shown any more signs of being "lonely" since the kids left. There are still the moments where he looks like he is wandering aimlessly (during his alone time). But for the most part I think he is so busy learning so many new things that his attention is focused there.

I have been getting to keep up with Miley Bird on Facebook. :) Her new mommy updates on there frequently and so i get to see SWEET pictures of our precious little girl! I sure do miss her but am happy that she is being very well taken care of where she is. The family is wonderful and very precious.

I hope you all are well and warm. I was shocked to see snow flurries this morning. Nothing to stick or cover the ground but they were there creating a nice white winter feel this morning.