Family Day

When we were thinking about things we'd like to do this summer, we decided that we would like to make Saturday a family day.  The goal was to get all of our normal weekend chores (cleaning, groceries, bills, etc.) finished during the week, so that Saturday could be devoted to playing together as a family. 

Well... the 1st week of summer we were all trying to catch our breath from the school year, and K and I actually ended up working in my classroom every day that week, so it didn't happen then.  The 2nd week of summer was VBS at church, and we were wiped. out. Plus, the 3rd week of summer was our vacation, so we were busy cleaning/packing etc.  So this week was really our 1st true week of summer it seems, and we spent that busily cleaning out/reorganizing (more on that in future posts- I promise!) 

Anyway, this Saturday was the 1st Saturday that we've made good on our "Family Day" promise.  We talking about going to the zoo, but since it's 15 million degrees outside, we decided we better seek refuge indoors and we ended up at the Louisville Science Center, and then to Graeter's for ice cream.  Will and I had been once to the Science Center, but K had never been and she had a BLAST!

checking out bubbles

inside of a bubble!

playing a game very similar to DDR- they were both pretty terrible!

sitting inside of a Gemini Space Capsule

Learning how to make paper

Y'all- I feel like she's wearing the same outfit every time I post pictures on here.  I promise she has more clothes! It just works out that way for some reason!  Also, she's growing her bangs out (her choice) which makes me sad because I feel like she looks way too grown up. :( 

What fun adventures has your family been on this summer?  Any suggestions of where we should go next??

Our 1st Vacation

Will and I have not really been on a vacation since we went with my family to Arizona in 2009.  We celebrated my grandparents' 50th wedding anniversary.  We have done a few weekends away here and there, but his school/work schedule prevented us from taking much more time than that.  Now that he has graduated, and Kristen is here, we knew we were due (way past due) for a vacation.  Kristen had never been on a vacation before, and was unbelievably excited.  We looked at several places to go, and eventually decided that Pigeon Forge/Gatlinburg was the perfect distance away, and had all the things we were looking to do.  So here's a rundown of our trip:

Sunday: After church, we loaded up the van, grabbed some lunch and took off.  We grabbed some dinner, checked into our cabin, unpacked, put K to bed, and Will and I immediately headed to the hot tub (don't worry- I only soaked my feet and legs, and I had a timer set for 20 minutes so I wouldn't hurt Sam.)

Monday: K slept in until 11:15- what?!- we had to wake her up! Crazy.  Will and I played pool while we waited for her to wake up/decided how long we should let her sleep, and then we all headed to the aquarium.  The aquarium down there is awesome, and you should definitely check it out if you go.  K's favorite part was the mermaids who swam with the stingrays. 

Tuesday: K wanted a pool day- so that's what we did.  Our cabin had access to a pool, and it was so peaceful.  In fact, for most of the day, we were the only people at the pool.  Heaven.  We went back to our cabin for lunch, and had a watermelon seed spitting contest off of our balcony (normally I wouldn't encourage such manners, but hey, it was vacay!)  That night, we took K to play putt-putt.  They had several really cool courses, and Will picked one that had a lost treasure theme.  You ride a train to the 1st hole, and then the holes are located inside volcanoes, on mountains, etc.  Very cool.  We ended the night with some ice cream.

Wednesday: We went for a hike (ok, more of a walk with it being so hot, me being preggo, and it being K's 1st time)  in the Smoky Mountains.  We loved the beautiful views and the hike ended at a waterfall.  Beautiful.  Then, we ate a picnic lunch in the park. 

Thursday: We had the rest of the days planned before we left, but Thursday was still up in the air.  We really wanted to go to Dollywood, but we weren't sure if K could handle it.  She gets very easily overstimulated, and also doesn't have much stamina for long days (a few hours at the zoo is usually enough to have her passed out for the rest of the evening.)  As the week went on, we realized that Dollywood was just not going to be a possibility so we started looking into other options.  We ended up going to the Knoxville Zoo (Knoxville is about 30-40 minutes away), and we had a blast! It was basically empty and it was a nice break from all of the herds of tourists around Gatlinburg/Pigeon Forge.  That night, we went out to eat to get BBQ.  Sam hadn't been moving much that week, and I was starting to get a little bit concerned, but as soon as I started eating the ribs that I ordered, he was moving all over the place! It was like he was jumping for joy! So funny.

Friday:  We checked out of our cabin (sadly), and went to get pancakes.  Oh my goodness y'all.  You have to go to Flap Jacks and get their sticky bun pancakes. I was in heaven (Sam enjoyed those too!)  Then, we took K to a place where you could "mine" your own rocks, gemstones, etc.  K has a rock collection at home, so we thought she would enjoy that.  We actually found some real gemstones, and we are trying to decide if we should have them cut, polished, and set in jewelry.  I have to admit that this was Will's idea, and I was a bit skeptical, but I should have trusted him.  We had a great time! 

 After we did that, it was time to head back home...

 All in all, I don't think we could have asked for a better 1st family vacation.  I think we went the perfect distance, (we were just starting to get the "are we there yet?" questions) stayed the perfect length of time (we were all starting to get a little tired towards the end), and staying outside of the city in a cabin provided the perfect escape to all the hustle and bustle. 

Stranded at the drive-in...

Yes! Now that I've got that song stuck in your head, (You know you love it!) I will tell you about Kristen's 1st drive-in experience. :)

Our friends, Bryan and Amy, introduced us to the drive-in a couple summers ago, and since then, it's been one of our favorite summer traditions. The drive-in is in Georgetown, Indiana, maybe 30 minutes from Louisville??  Here's the website: www.georgetowndrivein.com

So, last night was the 1st time they have shown a kids movie so far this summer- Madagascar 3, so we thought it was the perfect time to take Kristen! 

Before the movie, they had pony rides...

 Kristen liked the movie, and the food, and the ponies, but she LOVED it when we put the back seat down in the van, and made her a little pallet to lay on while she watched the movie.  I mean seriously, if I knew that's all it took to keep her entertained.... lol!  We had a wonderful family night!

So if you want to go, here are a few suggestions:
1. Arrive EARLY! The movie started around 9:30, and we got  there at 7:00.  Good thing too, because by 7:30, it was FULL! 

2. Bring things to do while you wait.  There is a playground for the kids (but it's usually packed), and last night they had pony rides, so we got to do that.  They also have an aracade.  We brought card games, and coloring books to pass the time.  We also ate dinner while we were waiting.

3. If you want to stay on your diet, bring your own food (you're allowed!).  Otherwise, the concessions are really inexpensive (like $2 for a burger), and they are really yummy, and really fried (pickles, cheese sticks, mac and cheese, etc).  They also showed a clip last night before the movie that talked about how drive-ins are closing across the country because the upkeep is so expensive.  The production companies take most of the $ from the ticket sales, so most of their revenue comes from concessions.  (Side note: I cried during that clip- preggo much?!)

4. Don't go unless you can sleep in the next morning!  Will and Kristen are still asleep (it's about 10:45).  They can't start the movie until it gets dark (around 9:30), and they usually show a double feature.  You don't have to stay for the 2nd movie, but your admission includes both movies, and K fell asleep in the van, so we decided to stay and watch it.

5. Bring cash- for the ticket sales, they will only take cash.  At the concessions, they will take cards with a $5 minimum purchase.

Adoption help

A lot of people have asked me where they can go to get started with the adoption process, or who we went with, etc...

Here are some websites that we found helpful:


This is the Kentucky Special Needs Adoption Program- it's what we did:
http://chfs.ky.gov/dcbs/dpp/Special+Needs+Adoption+Program+%28SNAP%29.htm

Get your tissues out if you go to this website- and don't go if you are hormonal ;) :
adoptuskids.org

Our church has an adoption ministry that also has a lot of helpful websites, etc.:
http://www.rosalynnshope.org/

This is just a small... very small list of resources, but we are happy to answer any questions that anyone has, or to do research about other agencies.  There tons of good adoption agencies, so it's a good idea to do your research, and ask around from other people who have adopted.

Introducing...

Our sweet baby!

Samuel Colby Thomas!  It's a boy!!! We are thrilled! Everything looked great at the ultrasound this morning.

So, now for the story of his name:

Ever since I can remember, I have dreamed and thought about what I would name my children.  I liked names that were pretty for girls, and masculine for boys.  I wrote not only my name, but my future children's names with whoever's last name I had a crush on at the time. Thankfully, I married a Thomas, so most names will "fit," unlike my maiden name, Meighan.  (Ask my brother and sister-in-law about that! haha!)

Who doesn't love baby feet?!

Shortly after we got married, Will and I started talking about what we would name our future children.  We didn't think much about meanings, but just went with names we thought were pretty, or cute, or masculine.  The longer we were married, the more our names began to evolve.  We decided that we wanted our children to have a family name somewhere (either their 1st or middle name).  This was important to us because we knew at some point we wanted to adopt, and we thought it would be a good way to help those children feel like they were a part of our family heritage.

But then..... we struggled to conceive, and naming children took on a whole new meaning.  All of the sudden, we became very concerned with the meanings of our children's names.  We also still wanted them to have a family name. 

Baby, or alien? A straight-on view of his face.

When we adopted Kristen, we had the opportunity to change her name if we wanted.  We thought, and prayed about what we should do, and we also talked with her about what she wanted to do.  In the end, we decided to keep Kristen which means "Christ-Bearer" and to change her middle name to Rene' which is mine and my mom's middle names. 

So now for Samuel:  Samuel's story can be found in the Bible in 1 Samuel.  His mom, Hannah, was barren, and prayed that God would bless her with children (sounds pretty familiar!)  Her prayers were so fervent, that Eli, the preist, thought she was drunk!  She promised God that if he would give her a child, she would dedicate that child to His service.  God answered her prayers, and she named him Samuel, which means "the Lord has heard my prayer." 

Our Samuel's middle name is Colby (the same as his daddy's!) We will call him Sam or Samuel, but not Sammy because my brother and his family have a dog named Sammy, and that would just be a little weird for us all. ;)

Summer Bucket List

So, my friend, Stasia, is a teacher in New Orleans, and had this great idea to come up with a summer bucket list.  She posted hers on her blog, so I thought I would do one too!  Check out her blog here:
http://ourlifeonabudget.blogspot.com/2012/05/summer-bucket-list.html

Here's the ever-evolving list:
-teach Kristen to wash dishes
-Kristen- reading tutoring (2x/week), homeschool math and reading (5x/week)
-VBS at church
-VACATION! to Gatlinburg/Pigeon Forge
-visit my parents at their new house in Arizona (still working out details/finances to see if this is a possibility)
-have a great visit with my inlaws in July
-visit the library at least weekly.
-visit the zoo often (maybe 2-3x/month-??--LOVE having passes!!!)
-go to the pool several times a week
-take Kristen to see the fireworks on the 4th of July, a Louisville Bats game, the Science Center, Speed Art Museum, Kentucky Derby Museum....
-CLEAN OUT our apartment in preparation for baby (nothing is safe!!!)
-set up my new classroom in preparation for my 1st year teaching 3rd grade- and get it ready for my maternity leave in November/December (this is a big job!)
-review and stick to our budget
-be more consistent with workouts/daily devotions
-finish my craft projects (I have like 5 different projects going on right now- 3 cross stitch, and 2 crochet and I need to get them done before I start working on the many projects that I want to do for baby)
-register/really start preparing for baby once we know the gender
-celebrate 4 years of marriage to my hubby
-make homemade ice cream

Things I want to read:
-finish: The New Strong Willed Child by Dr. James Dobson
-finish: Pride and Prejudice
-read: The Vow
-look over: 3rd Grade Common Core Standards (This may not be so much of a want-to, as a need-to!)

What's on your list???