Meet Miss Macy (aka Mini)

Yes.  You are seeing (and reading) this correctly.  We’ve added another family member to our house.  Meet Macy – the latest calico addition.  She joins her sisters:  Gracie and Casey, and of course big brother “Bubba” aka Roo. 

I firmly blame this on my neighbor!  Marie’s cute little polydactyl cat, “Polly” got out this summer while she was in heat and viola – 5 of the cutest baby kittens.  3 of the 5 were also polydactyl (extra “thumb”) and 4 of the 5 were female.  Macy is a muted calico.  Since I LOVE calicos (see Gracie and Casey), and have always liked polydactyl cats, Macy was, apparently, meant to live with us. 

Yes, this means we are back to a head count of 4.  But could you have said no to this face? 

The elder felines of the house are slowly getting used to her.  Hissing is subsiding.   Tatiana, on the other hand, is THRILLED.  Beyond thrilled.   Whenever she comes home from school or daycare, her first question is “where is Macy?”  I can relate – when I was her age, I got a kitten and he was my world! 

 

First Day of Pre School!

Since sometime last spring, Tatiana has been SUPER excited to go to “school”.  Last school year, she watched her cousins Riley and Ashley, and some of the other kids at daycare go to school.  In addition, she has a really uncanny knack for recognizing buildings around town and remembering EXACTLY what they are (“Oh!  It’s the post office!  Oh!  It’s the dime store – they give me pretzels!”).  Last spring, Gramma Darlin took Tati to “Riley’s school” once to pick Riley up.  From then on, Tati was PSYCHED to go to school.  And the countdown began…

All summer mama heard “OH!  There’s *MY* school!”, and “Mama, can we go to the playground at *MY* school"?”.  Etc, etc and repeat!

Today was FINALLY the big day!  While most of the kids started yesterday, Tati’s 1st preschool will be Monday, Wednesday and Friday mornings, so she started this morning.  But wait – did I just say “1st preschool”?  Yes!   I did!   Right now she’s enrolled into two different programs.   I’ll spare you all the details (ok, I tried to type it all out, but it’s seriously such a long story that even I was getting bored typing it, so you’re saved!) but suffice it to say that right now the schedule will be M-W-F mornings and then Monday through Thursday afternoons.  The big test will be Monday and Wednesday – both LONG days.  If it’s too much, we’ll drop one. 

So, on to the part you’re all here for… PICTURES! 

Breakfast before school!

I’m ready to go

My backpack is bigger than me! I’m so excited!

Here we are!  Time to go!

Cat’s Eye View

Hello everyone – Roo here.  You also might be familiar with another moniker I have “Bubba”.  It’s recently come to my attention (multiple times, in fact), that my press time around here has drastically decreased.   I’m here tonight to change that fact.  Besides, my mom won’t get around to posting for another couple weeks, so SOMEONE should keep this blog alive.

Things are ok around here.  Mom would probably tell you differently – that all is well.  But – I’ll sing a different tune tonight.  I mean, look at my face.  Do I look pleased?  That KID has taken over this house!  *I* am supposed to rule the roost! 

Actually, secretly, I’ll admit it, she’s pretty cool.  Mom catches me outside her room at night.  She thinks I am waiting for her to go to bed, but really I am just making sure the kid’s alright.  I’ve kind of  named myself her protector.  I DO get jealous if all the attention is focused on her – and I’ll have to squeeze between her and mom.  But it’s all good.  I just want to be PART of the fun. 

Gracie is good, too.  She’s still a huge eater – even though *I* am the giant boy.  The kid helps mom feed Gracie the wet food.  She gets the can of wet food out of the cupboard in the evening.   Gracie likes that but still is a little hesitant to let the kid touch her – unless she’s let her guard down and the kid sneaks up.  The one thing we don’t get?  The kid (and mom too) call her “Heana” all the time.  Mom says it’s because she used to call Gracie “Gracina Purina” and that kid started calling her “Heana.” Weird.

 

That young cat that looks like Gracie is still around too.  I think her name is really Casey, but the kid calls her “New-new” or “Newnie” because, quite simply, she was the new kitty.  She came home after the kid did.  I like her and all – but she gets almost as much attention as the kid does.  Mom’s not really sure what her background was since both her and Gracie came from “death row”, but we suspect she had been around kids and dogs since she’s not scared of either of them.  Mom says she’s her lover girl, she’s always jumping into mom’s arms from the floor and she licks mom’s neck a lot.  Also weird. 

Mom told me that if I left a post with no pictures of the kid – I’d get in trouble.  So here they are.  They went to a wedding last weekend with Grampa and Gramma who were in town from Florida (via Tennessee).  And this morning they made cookies.  But not kitty cookies or treats for me.  Sheesh.  Gramma Darlin and the kid also got matching (temporary) butterfly tattoos. 

Sounds like the kid is sleeping – time for me to assume my post at her bedroom door.  Night all!

Summertime – When the Livins’ Easy

August is slipping away from me as I type tonight.  I swear yesterday was August 1st!  Thankfully, here in Michigan, school doesn’t start until AFTER Labor Day, so we still have a couple weeks left before the big start of PRE-SCHOOL.  My big dilemma over that is which one to send her to – we applied to two and got accepted at both.  Decisions, decisions. 

The fun continues this month.   I will be sad when this summer of fun ends!  I will also be exhausted… but sad!  This month’s update (let’s face it, that’s about my average these days…) has some good, and some sad. 

My little tiny town had it’s yearly festival in early August.  This is a DO NOT MISS event in the town each year, and I am very pleased to report that the committee outdid themselves this year!  We had a fabulous time!  Friday afternoon was kids events:  picture the main street of a town closed off, tons of FREE kids events and perfect weather.  Tati invited her cousin Mary up for the festivities (ok, in truth, Mary’s mom and Tati’s mom wanted to catch up!), and the girls played perfectly together as usual! 

The events included a Princess Tea Party:

Kids Games and Train Rides:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And a magic show featuring Ronald McDonald (did you know he was multi-talented?).  And where was the child that was scared of all the characters at Disney? (minus the princesses)  Nowhere in sight.  She walked straight up to him and said hi.  If there would have been smaller children in her way (there weren’t, thankfully), they may have been stepped on.  That girl was ON A MISSION. 

Finally, we wrapped up the weekend’s events with a marching band exhibition (hey, we love music!), a parade AND fireworks!  And the fear of fireworks?  Ready for this?  Sitting down?  No tears, no screaming – and we actually got some “ooooh beautiful” comments!  WOW!  She loved them!  Here she is making faces with mama at the parade.

 

A week later,  Tatiana and I  went to our adoption agency’s (Lighthouse Adoptions, Inc) summer picnic/family gathering.  It was a blast!  Lorien has a knack of picking the hottest day of the year for the gathering (well, it is August), but this year she was super smart and picked an inside location – Xtreme Bounce Zone!  Great choice!  Tati had a BLAST – and it was perfect since it was just Lighthouse kids.  No huge 15 year olds jumping on top of tiny 3 year olds! 

In addition, we shared a minor milestone while on our “trip” to the picnic.  Since the gathering is about 2 hours from our house, we left later on Friday night and stayed at a hotel near Ann Arbor.  When T sleeps at “Gramma Darlin’s” house she has an Aero-bed made for young kids.  It’s sides are slightly raised so kids don’t roll out.  I purposely didn’t bring this along so we could try out her first night in a big, big bed all by herself (knowing that if it backfired, this hotel does have a pack and play or 4).   I try to choose a hotel that has a slightly separated room, either a suite of two rooms or a faux-suite where a small wall divides the spaces.  For this reason, SpringHill Suites are my friend!  I was getting our things situated just after we arrived to the room when I heard MASSIVE giggling from the other side of the wall – and this is what I discovered: 

You’re catching the downward side of the jump.  Yes, in her adorable sundress.  Not very ladylike, but TONS of fun.  We have plenty of years to be ladylike!  Bring on the fun!

So, after seeing this, you can imagine that I was a little afraid that sleeping would NEVER commence.  However, this is what I got at bedtime: She was a pro!!  She slept great, didn’t roll out (yes, that is a 6 pillow wall surrounding her – hey, I *had* to do something with all those pillows they gave us!) and was in general, an angel!   So then it was onto the big event – Bounce Zone!  Here’s the princess in action:

  

 

 

 

 

We had a blast!  Tatiana was in her glory and mama loved talking with other adoptive families!  Next year we’ll have to try to plan our schedules and have some more time to chat!

In other news, the morning after we returned home from this event, we received some very sad news.  The mother of Tatiana’s BFF at daycare was murdered the night before.  This is very hard for me to type, because it is still fresh and sad.  Horribly tragic, horribly wrong.  Two of the most beautiful children have lost a mother at the tender age of just barely 2 (last week) and 3.  They’ll likely never remember her.  If it’s in you, please pray for these gorgeous kids.  My heart breaks daily for them.  (On a side note, while VERY, VERY shocking, I don’t live in Cabrini Green.  I live in a tiny town and aside from last year’s double murder that you may remember from a previous post, there hasn’t been anything like this happen in 15+ years. )

I think that’s enough for now.  War and Peace may have been shorter than this post.  It’s closing in on 1am and I am wide awake.  Mama had a dynamite girls only weekend in Las Vegas with some very long term friend (notice I didn’t say OLD).  We were celebrating a certain milestone event for the year.  Yup, we’re all turning 29.  Again.  And again…. repeat another 9 times.  But more on that later! 

Time Flies (When You’re Having Fun)

I told myself I would not wait so long between blog posts.  And technically, I didn’t break my promise.  But, yes, I know it’s been too long!  I can confirm that by trying to weed through all the pictures I’ve taken on our adventures!

This summer has been a BLAST.  The weather has been fantastic so we’ve spent endless hours at the pool, down at the beach, and generally just outside loving life!  Tatiana is VERY tan (enviable tan!) with great sun-streaked hair.  The kind people pay good money to achieve!  And mama is well, I’m at least tan. 

So… you ask:  what have we been up to since the LAST blog posting?  (Maybe you didn’t ask, but I’m going to tell you anyway!)  As mentioned above, we’ve been enjoying the summer weather.  Living 4 miles from one of the Great Lakes definately has it’s advantages!  Our little town is called Croswell, located on the Black River.  4 miles east is Lexington, located right on Lake Huron.  Together the two towns make 1 school district.  Hand in hand; peanut butter and jelly.  You get the idea. 

In the summer, Lexington is a different town.  Because of it’s location on the lake, we get a lot of tourists.  And so the town reacts.  Friday nights have live music playing in the park, there are festivals, art shows, etc.  There is also a great “break wall” that goes out into the lake and blocks off the marina.  It’s a great place to walk – see the gorgeous lake, get a breeze and just enjoy. 

If our own tourist life wasn’t enough, last weekend we packed up the car and drove to Niagara Falls (the Canadian side).  It’s only about 4 hours from our house, since we are so close to the bridge to Sarnia.  No offense to our own side of Niagara, but the Canadian side truly is the place to see the falls.  You get great viewing of BOTH falls, and they do a fabulous job with flowers and gardens to really make the whole city pretty.  Tatiana LOVED the falls.  I was nervous they’d be too “loud” and she would be scared, but she was amazed. 

While we were at Niagara Falls, we also took in Marineland (think Sea World-ish), and Niagara Safari Zooz.  The animal loving Tati was in HEAVEN.  I don’t think she’s stopped mentioning the animals yet.  She really, really, REALLY liked the dolphins and whales at Marineland, so Mickey, I hate to break this to you, but next spring, we may forgo you in favor of Sea World and Busch Gardens.  Sorry pal! 

Instead of uploading 100 pictures of our latest adventures, here’s a quick video.  Enjoy!

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Excuses, Excuses

The dog ate my blog post.  Wait.  I don’t have a dog.  My brother’s uncle’s sister’s father’s cousin died.  Hmmm – that can’t be right either, I am an only child.  I haven’t had any electricity for the past month.  Nah, still doesn’t work – too many of you know I have been on facebook.   Plum out of excuses here!  So I guess the truth will have to suffice… the weather has been just too darn nice to be inside blogging.   I seriously don’t know how you southerner’s do it – the whole nice weather year round.  I don’t think I’d ever get a thing done!

So… what have we been up to since my last posting? 

Memorial Day:  Seems like eons ago, yet this summer has been FLYING by!  Memorial Day was gorgeous up here, 3 days of great weather, and so Tatiana and I LIVED at the pool.  Our pool is a private pool that 10 families own a share of – T and I being one of those 10 families.  Before T, I was typically pastey-white girl in the summer, but Memorial Day started me on a nice base for the year.  I haven’t blinded any small children this year, thankfully.  We went to TWO parades, a pancake breakfast and generally enjoyed the great weather, family, friends and cooking out!

  Hi Ho, Hi Ho, It’s Off to Work I Go:  Work has been crazy busy, with one super week from h-e-double hockey sticks.  I was to have 4 contracted sales pros (and one counter part) into Lansing, MI to help me work with my distributor there.  The weekend before the event was to kick off on a Monday afternoon, I still had NOT received any of the names of these “pros”.  On Monday, when the team was supposed to meet me in Lansing for training @ 2:30pm, and no one showed up, it wasn’t a pretty sight.  Needless to say, I enjoyed a very large margarita that evening.  (The beer wasn’t mine – it’s a point of reference for size!)

Play Fair:  Croswell’s annual fair came to town in June.  With T’s huge love of animals (and yet, fears of animals at the same time!), this was a HUGE event.  We saw LOTS of cool animals:  there were some babies that had just been born & Tatiana got to feed some goats; rode some rides: bouncy castle, carousel, the train and the cars were the most popular;  and ate food that would only be considered good AT the fair!  We had so much fun, we had to go twice!   Top Gun:   On top of being busy at home for work, we also had our National Meeting in San Diego, CA.  A gorgeous location, and a fun meeting.  Lots of fun new product on the horizon!  Full days of meetings are ALWAYS hard on a sales rep.  Since we rarely sit still for a whole day, it’s hard to keep our attention.  But it wasn’t all work and no play, the night before we left to go home, we had a special treat of being able to spend the evening out at Miramar US Marine Base (aka where “Top Gun” was to have taken place).   My friend Kellie and I decided that no matter who you are – that place was COOL!  I also divulged a secret to Kellie while we were sitting in a Marine helicopter – I always want to walk up to military personnel and say thank you whenever I see them.  But I can’t.  I start tearing up and generally look like a giant fool.  Kellie admitted she has the same problem!                  Kellie (holding my wine) on one of the helicopters

The “Other Tatiana’s” Birthday Party:  Tia, Tati’s Russian friend, turned 4 and we went to her house to help celebrate her big day!  More swimming and playing ensued.  Fun was had by all!

Tati’s 2nd 4th of July:  My little American citizen celebrated her Independence Day with a long (and loud), hot,  parade.  We watched fireworks (far, far away so they weren’t too loud!) and played with sparklers.  Miss Suddenly Brave didn’t appreciate that mama wasn’t ready to let her run loose with a sparkler.  Once again, Mother Nature blessed us and the weather was FAB-U-LOUS.  Other than the parade and fireworks, we spent the rest of the weekend AT THE POOL.  Big surprise at this stage huh?

Swimmin’:  A note on the pool… last summer, after getting over her initial fear of the water, Tati became a little fish.  We started swimming lessons over the winter so that if anything ever happened and the little Miss found herself in water with no floaties – she’d know the basics of swimming.  At this stage she does NOT need the floaties any longer and is an great swimmer.  She tends to freak out the other mom’s at swimming lessons – partially because she looks smaller than she is but also because she’s so good!   Her only hiccup in the beginning was to remember to come up and breathe – but now she’s breathes like a pro!

Pull-Up Free:  I hesitate to say this/post this out loud/in the public eye.  I am afraid it will jinx me.  Basically since around the beginning of May, we’ve been using the potty FULL time.  An occasional accident will appear rarely, but for the most part we have moved on!   She still wears a pull up at bedtime, but that’s it!  The big draw for her was pre-school!  To go to school next year, like her bigger cousin, Riley – she had to be potty trained.  Yahoo!  Just don’t ask me why her shorts are on her head…

So that’s the summer update so far.  We’re having a blast and gearing up for even more fun and busy weekends.   Hope you are all enjoying your summer as well.

We Are Family

On Monday this week (I am a little behind), I attended the funeral of a great man.  My Grandfather’s brother (my Great Uncle for those of you keeping track!), Gene, passed away on May 20th.  He was 92, lived an incredible life and always had a story to tell with a smile on his face. 

Even though I am an only child, I actually come from a rather large family.  You may remember this same branch of the family tree from previous posts about Thanksgiving.  My Grandfather was one of seven boys and until May 20th, five of the seven were still with us.  My mom is one of six children, and my dad is one of seven.  And while some people don’t know their uncles and aunts very well, I am blessed to say that I know all of mine AND most of my Great Aunts and Uncles as well – including Uncle Gene and his wife, Aunt Greta (who is one of Tatiana’s favorites!) – and it doesn’t hurt that they are practically my neighbors!

The Clarkson boys from top left:  Lock, Gene, Lee, Jule.  Bottom left:  Lyle, Wayne and Arden.

I never knew my Grandfather, Lawrence “Lock” Clarkson.  He passed away in January 1969, before I was born.  I am thankful that I got to experience what I can only imagine he was like, through the eyes of his brothers.  Another cousin said it well this week by stating that if our Grandfather was anything like Uncle Gene, he must have been wonderful!  And that’s saying A LOT.  Uncle Gene’s funeral was packed.  Not many people can say that – let alone a 92 year old.  4 SEPARATE religious leaders got up to speak – from 4 SEPARATE churches! 

As with many people, I assume, family over the years has come to mean more to me than I realized.  My Great Uncle’s passing coincided with a conversation I had with a co-worker who is VERY driven to be promoted.   He seems boggled sometimes when I don’t have the same goal.  And honestly, years ago, I would have been boggled as well.  However, the older I get, the more important family and friends are to me.  I am sure Tatiana’s arrival has something to do with that as well.  I am thrilled that she is growing up around so many family members!  She sees her Gramma Darlin on a daily basis – along with some of her cousins.  Her GREAT Gramma lives a mile from us and she has the pleasure of knowing some of her Great GREAT Aunts and Uncles.  For someone who started out her life with NO one claiming to be her family, that’s pretty cool. 

Over the past year or so, my priorities have shifted.  I find myself thinking of ways I could work where I didn’t have to travel as much so I could be even CLOSER to home more often.  My cousin Jennifer and I plot about opening up our own business at times, but what that is, we aren’t 100% sure yet.  We’re both fabulous dreamers – it’s got to be genetic!

So while I am sad to say Good-bye to my literally GREAT (as in fabulous), Great Uncle Gene (as in my mother’s Uncle!), I am thankful for the time we spent together;  the stories he told (like many of our family members, he could talk and talk and talk – a habit I *OBIVOUSLY* did NOT inherit, ha ha); the glimpse into what my Grandfather was like; and the life lessons that I didn’t even know I was receiving.  Say hi to Grandpa for me, Uncle Gene!