Field Trip - the Zoo

We have an annual zoo membership that we share with Tasha so we all met up at the zoo. With our budget this summer you will see us at the zoo or in our pool.

Larissa with Owen

Tasha is holding our foster baby, he is the sweetest child.

I am going to call him Jacob, not his real name but perhaps it will be one day. He won't ride the animal but did sit on the animal in the seating area we were in.

Larissa has developed a fear of heights so making it to the top was an accomplishment for her.

For the first time Benjamin made it to the top!

Afterwards we went to a place that Sarah had been wanting to try out. I won the photo contest.

Paint Pouring

Homeschool art, we are trying some of the new painting ideas floating out there. We love paint pouring, Sarah is addicted.

It is a mess but so interesting as you don't know what the result will be.

We have decided that we need a little side business so are trying to come up with ideas. We are making jewelry with the paint overflows. Oh, so fun and rewarding. We are raising funds for Sarah and her next mission trip which will be 6 months long and also starting a fund for Larissa's trips. Trying to come up with money to go to Dallas made us realize that this is very expensive! We won't be going to NC this summer but some of us will be going on a cruise that was already paid for. Larissa has an agent in California who has asked her to come out, I don't think that will ever be affordable. Many agents will be in Dallas and we would love to get an agent in Atlanta, possibly New York as they are on our coast! We have to balance our families needs and that is often complicated.

Photoshoot

Quite a while back the kids did a Photoshoot. It took forever to get them back so I don’t know if I ever shared them. If I did, ignore this post! Oh, Larissa and I will head to Dallas. We are going to cut some corners and come up with the money to go. It shall be interesting and educational for us.

So here are the photos...

Foster update

Youngest foster baby, his parents came out on Mother’s Day to see him.  He is growing so fast. Such a laid back baby! He took his time to move around but I wasn’t worried because of his easy going behavior. However, in the last two weeks he has started moving to the point where he is pulling to a standing position. That meant a few late nights because he wanted to get around and explore. He is also cutting his first tooth. Court is in two weeks, please pray that they get heard. This baby should have been home long ago.

Little man is our challenge. He is receiving Babynet and speech services. We are still waiting on an OT evaluation for his sensory seeking issues. He has been approved for 12 hours a week for a personal care attendant. As he grows we are concerned that perhaps some of his issues are medical related. He is milk intolerant and in spite of removing all milk products he still has gut issues. Some days he is just a super hyper 2 year old and other days he wakes up crying and is a challenge all day long. We have referrals. Still not talking. Don’t know why. Interesting how people have opinions on why. First thought that many have is autism but he does not have autism. Then some think because he doesn’t have to talk and we do it for him. Umm, no. Actually if you spend time with him you would see that he wants so badly to talk. He fibbers a lot. We even had someone say it was because we had too many kids! I find that insulting. So, he actually has more people to communicate with. He copies Benjamin and if you met him you would know he talks A LOT. I had a teenager recently tell me that Benjamin has a bigger vocabulary then him. We talk, we eat dinner together and talk. He is immersed in talking. It is so frustrating for him. Apraxia (?) was mentioned today but then dismissed. We just aren’t sure. Speech lady thinks it is a combination of we spoil him and he doesn’t have to talk. Yes, it annoys me. Babynet provider doesn’t think either of those are the reason.

Newest kid is fitting right in. He had a visit today and was finally able to get his Christmas gifts. He was so happy.  We had bought him some wrestling figures and he has a bike but my kids have so much and he had so little. His social worker called me. She said she has never seen him so happy and he looks so much healthier. He has lost some weight and his hair is no longer shaved every two weeks. I think swimming every day and being able to eat as many servings of food that he needs help.  He does call me mom and have me Mother’s Day cards. John calls him the bridge (between Emma 12 and Benjamin 5) and believes we will adopt him. His Sw says he is always anxious to get him after visits. Is he honeymooning? I don’t know. He has had a few anger issues but nothing we haven’t dealt with in Anthony. His anger issue got him moved from his last home but from what I hear of it I can understand why. Knowing what we know about the case anger is a normal expression. We are trying to find a therapist.

Disclaimer, this is written on a phone, in the dark, in bed with fat fingers. Excuse any typos!

Extravaganza

If you follow me on instagram then you have already seen these pictures.

Sunday I got Larissa up bright and early so we could be in Columbia by 8 so that they could practice for their Extravaganza that was happening at 4pm.

The theme was Super Heroes

Little ones practices from 8-12, took a break and then practiced a little before the show at 4. I have to say that Benjamin held up rather well. The show ended around 6:30.

The pictures came out rather blurry. I think it was the lighting and distance.

They give out ribbons, honorable mentions, top three places and at the end they announce their model of the year.

Benjamin placed in the top three in two categories and honorable mention in the third. Larissa got a ribbon in runway and honorable mention in the other two. She smiled but I could tell she wasn't too happy. She really does have a very good walk. I think that years of dancing has helped with that.

At the very end they announced the top model, Larissa! She didn't come out. They announced again and at the third call she finally came out.... crying.

She cried, I cried and the owner cried. The owner said that Larissa is the youngest winner of the model of the year. 

Larissa said that in the back she couldn't hear. Then they said to open up the way and everyone opened up an opening all the way to her, that was when she heard her name called. She was shocked.

We are proud of both kids. Benjamin is a charmer and even did well on his commercial in spite of mic problems that he tried to resolve without getting flustered. Larissa has so many challenges in life and has cried many tears over bullying, it was so nice to see her cry tears of joy. 

It was such a positive experience. One lady came up to Larissa and said that she was so upset when she didn't place in runway, she thought it was rigged but then she was so excited when she won. Several folks wanted pictures with her. One agent came up to me and told me that she took pictures of Benjamin and Larissa for a local film they are doing, she didn't realize that they were siblings.

They tell us we need to go to Dallas in June. We hadn't auditioned to go and part of the reason was money, it isn't cheap. I told them we hadn't auditioned to go, they said that she automatically gets in for being model of the year. Well, guess we are going to go for it. Larissa and I will head to Dallas the end of June to attend the Dallas Model and Talent Expo. It shall be interesting, We shall be broke!