What Would You Say?

I was listening to a live recording of a Dave Matthews Band concert in the car the other day and Marcus kept singing the chorus to "What Would you Say". And that is just a fitting title to this post.

I was at lunch with the kids today and at one point I noticed a blond haired, fair skinned woman sitting at a nearby table with a little boy completely Guatemalan. What did I say? Nothing. I have no clue what to say in that situation. I usually wait for the other person to talk to me. I just have no clue what to say. Most of the time I just fear that there is that chance I could be wrong and I could totally insult someone. So all those other adoptive parents that I know read my blog and rarely post comments, what do you say? Post your comment. Please.

I have had lots of people say things to me. Of course, my kids have been adopted so it isn't like someone coming up to me and asking me if I adopted them would offend me. (Although, some people have done it with way more tact than others.) I have had several people come up to me and start off with, "Can I ask you a question?" And of course I know where that is going. I had one Caucasian woman with two African American children with her say to me that my son (only had one of them with me at the time) was beautiful. I knew what she was trying to lead into but then I froze with what to say next so that went nowhere. Then of course there was that time when a guy got my attention at the store and asked, "Hey, can I talk to you for a second?" I just knew what was coming, but then it turned out that he just wanted to give me some advice about a product he noticed I was purchasing. Oops. So really, what do you say?

Family Day

Family Day. Gotcha Day. Whatever you call it, it is just a made up holiday/tradition that a lot of adoptive families do. It can be celebrated whenever but these past two years we have decided to celebrate our Family Day the first Saturday of November. Both our kids became a part of our family around this time of year and November is National Adoption Month, so it works. We celebrate our kids' birthdays of course, but for adoptive families, birthdays are often times kind of... odd. On the day that my sons were born I don't have any stories or memories. I didn't even know my kids were in this world until weeks after they were born. Unlike biological families, our family didn't become a family at the birth of our children. So we get another day to celebrate, have fun, get presents, and eat bad food. That was today.

First up was a photo op.

Marcus' first day at our house, November 2006


Marcus, November 2007


Marcus, November 2008


Marcus, today


Will's first day at our house, November 2007


Will, November 2008


Will, today


Our local Guatemalan group (GPAFG) had an outing planned for today so we decided to do that for our Family Day. WQED Studios had the set from Mr. Roger's Neighborhood set up and we planned on meeting up with a few other families to attend the free event. As I suspected, because it was free and for just this weekend, everyone in the entire city showed up. We saw a couple families from the group but for the most part, all the separate families just jumped in line when they arrived and we ended up not being there together. The line was long. We were outside while we waited. It was cold. The dinosaur statue kept us entertained for about 2 minutes.


Apparently there was a whole lot of stuff going on inside. Not only could you check out Mr. Roger's Neighborhood, but Mr. McFeely was there posing for pictures and signing autographs. We waited. We waited some more. After that there was more waiting. At one point we could barely believe but there we were, in front of King Friday's castle.




By the time we reached the end of the set, two hours had passed. Will was getting whiny. The poor kids didn't have a clue what the hype was, particularly since they have only seen a few episodes of Mr. Rogers. I was bored. Greg was being a great husband and keeping his thoughts to himself. The kids probably could have made it as long Greg and I could keep coming up with creative ways to entertain them. However, I was done. Having fun wasn't supposed to be so much work. There was still at least another 30 minute wait before we got to hang with Mr. McFeely for a minute. I did think it would be pretty cool to get a picture with Mr. McFeely, but I also thought it would be pretty cool to get out of there. We got out of line, used the potty, and I snapped a photo of Mr. McFeely so someday I can show it to my kids and tell them all about how we were that close but I robbed them of the opportunity to meet him.


It was lunch time. We thought we would do something fun for the kids. We drove back towards our town and stopped at Burger King. We aren't fast food people. I think that is only the second time Marcus has had fast food and a first for Will. They both thoroughly enjoyed their meal of little nutritional value. We learned that Will likes pickles.

The Burger King has an indoor playground. Even though the day was shaping up to be gorgeous and we could have been outside, we figured it would be a fun place for the kids to play. Wrong. The playground said it was handicapped accessible which was just assuming because the able bodied children playing on it were having difficulties. Particularly my children. The only way to climb up was through these tubes that Will wasn't tall enough to get up unassisted. Marcus was scared of it. So scared that he had a total freak out and I had to rescue him and our fun morning ended like this:


We went home. Defeated. Our Family Day was turning out to be a Crappy Day. Two hours in the car. Two hours in line. A totally freaked out kid.

At least Will enjoyed his pickle.

During nap time I took the pup for a walk in our woods and did some yard work to hopefully reduce the damage done by the fast food. After nap we were ready to try to make Family Day a bit more fun.

During the time Greg and I spent in Guatemala, we purchased several small gifts to give to the kids throughout the year. It was present time! No one can get presents without a smile on their face!


At first Will thought he got popcorn.


Nope. A wooden train.



The trains were definitely a big hit. They were the only toy the kids played with for the rest of the evening. That was, the rest of the evening that we were home. We still had one more place to go.

Sarris'!! Sarris Candies makes the best chocolate, at least in my opinion. They also have a great ice cream parlor. We were headed for the ice cream. When I put the kids to bed tonight I asked them what their favorite part of the day was. They both said, "Ice cream!"





Out of the four of us, only one of us was able to finish all their ice cream. Guess who?


I was thinking that I had to take the pup for a walk around the neighborhood when I got home to make up for that ice cream. It didn't happen. Happy Family Day! Tomorrow is Diet Start Day!

Fall

How can you not love fall? The hot cider, the pumpkins, the cool weather, and the leaves! The forecast today was talking about snow flurries. I didn't see any but I was definitely happy to go back and look at my photos from a couple weeks ago when the weather was a bit warmer and the leaves were a bit brighter.

About two weeks ago I headed into the woods with the pup and stopped dead in my tracks. All the colors of the leaves were just amazing. I went back home to grab the camera in hopes to capture just a glimpse of the beautiful colors I was seeing.



I couldn't wait to take the kids out for a hike in the woods. The next day we hit the trails.

Marcus isn't really this much taller than Will. He was on a hill.




I love this tree. It is dead and rotting but for some reason, I find dead trees beautiful.



Maya still picks up trash on all our nature walks.


Last weekend we headed out in the yard again. Will was having a blast on our tree swing. Now that is just pure joy!





Greg raked up a big pile of leaves. The kids needed no instruction and knew just what to do. I remember having a good time playing in leaves as a kid, but I don't think I ever had as good of a time as I did playing with my leaves as I did last weekend.

Art Exhibit by Marcus Kline

Here are a few examples of the fabulous artwork that Marcus has completed in his pre-school class.

Coffee Filter Balloon (Blue Day)


Finger Painting (Yellow Day)


Joseph's Coat of Many Colors


Lion


Jonah and the Whale, Jonah not included


Pumpkin


Candy Corn


Apple

Day of the Dead

On November 1st and 2nd, Guatemalans celebrate Day of the Dead. Apart from reading a little bit about this holiday, we don't really know what Guatemalans do to celebrate. Starting last year, we decided we were going to celebrate this holiday in our own unique Guatemalan-American style.

First stop was the cemetery. It is my understanding that in Guatemala on the Day of the Day, relatives go to the cemetery and decorate their family's graves. We were headed to my father's family plot when we came across some deer. There were two mommys and three babies. Last year when we were at the cemetery on Day of the Dead, we got rather close to one of the deer, but I wasn't quite expecting what happened this year. The deer in the cemetery know they are safe from hunters and even though they are wild animals, they have become quite tame. We pulled up right alongside these five deer and stopped. I rolled down the windows so the kids (and me and Greg of course) could get a better view.



We turned to watch the little baby twins sniffing at each other.


When I turned back around, one of the mommy deer was walking right over to the car. I was chatting with her and she just kept coming closer. Then her nose was inside my window!


I could have pet her but was so surprised by what was happening I didn't have a chance to decide if that was something I wanted to do or not. After she determined that we didn't have any treats for her, she went back to grazing.

We parked the car and got out about 50 feet from where the deer were. Instead of running, they came over near us. Ultimately they decided that we weren't that interesting and headed off.


I mentioned the deer to my dad later in the day and he pulled out a picture that was just in the local paper. Apparently there are some people that go to the cemetery twice a week and feed the deer out of buckets and pet them. I guess is it pretty common for people to feed the deer from their cars too. Next time we head up there, we are taking carrots!

At last we made it to the Wylie plot.



It had been a year, but Marcus and Will seemed to enjoy visiting some of their great-grandparents and great-great-grandparents. Marcus kept asking, "Where the dead people?" We had to stop to give the dog a hug too.


Then we were off to visit my mom's side of the family. There were more pictures (and yes, I think it was odd that I took pictures my kids with headstones) and we enjoyed the view.


And really, how could I not take pictures of these two cute kids even if we were in the cemetery?



Back home we ate some lunch and headed out to fly some kites. The kites are a symbol of the connection between the living and the dead. Unfortunately, there was not even a breeze to be had. In our first attempt to get the kites up, our very low quality kites both broke. Not even a minute into the activity and we were breaking out the tape. Most of our kite flying looked like this:


Marcus got bored with the anticipation.


I did manage to get one kite up for less than a minute. I threw the camera at Greg and yelled to hurry up and get a picture.


The kids didn't care and had fun flying kites in their own style.



During Day of the Dead, Guatemalans spend time with family. We concluded our celebration at a family dinner to celebrate my dad's birthday. Maybe we didn't celebrate in the "correct" traditional way, but it sure was nice to have the day as a family making our own traditions.

The Kicker

My little football fan Will has taken up the position of the kicker lately. He still loves to tackle, for sure, but kicking a football is great fun too. He isn't about to fall for the old Charlie Brown trick where his pal Lucy (or in this case, Marcus) holds the ball and then grabs it out of the way just before he is to make contact. So, Will got creative and Marcus even joined in on the fun.

Take this ordinary dog toy.


Add a football.


Step back.


...and KICK!

Parties and Pumpkins

If I weren't so far behind with blogging, I am sure this would have been a couple separate post with lots more words to go along with the pictures. But at last, you get to see our little family life and don't have to listen to my ramblings so much. Enjoy and Happy Halloween!

We had our annual Halloween Party last week. Sorry I didn't plan ahead better and just sent out invites a little more than a week ahead of time. It was a great time. Thanks everyone who came and sorry I missed all of those that couldn't make it. It was amazing to me to see the diversity of my friends. Up until my boys came along, I had only ever had white friends with one African American friend mixed in there. It was nothing I ever did intentionally, it was just that my community wasn't that diverse. During our party, the white kids were just about outnumbered. I love how my life has evolved. Both my boys are just loving the idea of Halloween this year. Especially Marcus, who wants to wear his costume all the time and has been telling me all about the ghosts that he sees. Maybe he just has a strong sixth sense. (If I post a picture of you or your kid and you want me to remove it, just let me know. I can't keep track of who I got okays from and who I forgot to ask.)




That looks like an odd beverage of choice for a ladybug











It had gotten cold so we came in the garage and closed the door. The kids decided to run in circles around the garage with every push and riding toy we own. It was LOUD. Then there was Will, my little guy who always insists on going against the grain. He just hung out in the middle watching all the other kids while he ate some mac 'n cheese.


The next day we were off to the local pumpkin patch. This was Will's second trip and Marcus's third. We got to enjoy a few activities and animals before catching the hay ride. There were some baby cows there. Will liked them and kept saying, "Hi, Moo."


This pumpkin was record size, although I don't know if it was the biggest ever in state or just the county. It weighed 1444.5 lbs.


A polka dotted sheep. Is this normal?


I took this picture last year.


I still couldn't get them to look at the camera, but at least Will wasn't crying this year!


Will picking his pumpkin.


Marcus's first pumpkin pick, although I coerced him into getting a bigger one since the pumpkin patch is so darn expensive and I wanted us to get our money's worth.


Lost in the maize maze.


Hay Maze



They cheated before and they are still cheating in the hay maze this year.



This is a picture I took of Marcus in 2007 on his first trip to the pumpkin patch. He had just learned to walk and was loving all his new found movement. I've always liked this picture so I tried to recreate it this year.



The final pumpkin selection.


Next up was our playgroup Halloween Party. There was food and crafts and lots of kids in costumes. I don't know a lot of the moms so I didn't post too many pictures from this event. We ended up having to leave early so we could get to story time at the library since we had yet another Halloween Party to go to there.

Mmm... snacks.


Will, Marcus, and Avery. Go WVU!!!


A great shot of my great pumpkin, borrowed from a friend of mine, Avery's mommy.


Another borrowed picture from Avery's mom that I just love.


I've never been a fan of carving pumpkins. Greg apparently isn't either. I suppose we will someday give our children the experience of pumpkin carving, but that day will come when they will be able to do more of the carving (and guck removal and cleanup) themselves. For now, we paint.








Trick-or-Treat is tonight. I'm not expecting anything extraordinary to happen. I am expecting on getting to my kids' candy before they do. Have a great Halloween!