So I made it through a whole day without me kiddies. Who else is proud of me? Was a good day (we won’t count normal workday since I’m usually not with them anyway). When I got home I did some packing, yes, I know, go me….Then we got some Casey’s pizza with our friends Dan and Becky and decided to have a game night. Becky and I were dominating until the boys came from out of nowhere to beat us. Was horribly depressing, I think we need a rematch.

The kids had fun going to the new Science Center in Des Moines and Trysten so far only sounds excited to hear my voice for a brief second. He paused a couple times today so he could hear a funny part on Ice Age, I think they are surviving without me. Even Dailah, ever the mommy’s girl, isn’t screaming my name. Both saddened and happy about that fact.

So this week we are officially kid-less. My parents and sister take the kids one week out of the summer. It gives them some good old fashioned bonding time and gives my hubby and me a little honeymoon every year. Obviously this is the first year with two kids, so I’d be lying if I didn’t say it turns out the emotions are intensified x2! I only cried for about 15 minutes after I left them yesterday, so I think I’m doing well! I am preparing myself to pack up the rest of the house in order to be prepared for the upcoming move on the 23rd. Man that is coming at record breaking speed!

Zach and I got fingerprinted today for new forms CHSFS needs. It was really awesome, actually. The lady asked why we needed them. When we told her we were adopting, she said, “Well God bless you.” We talked about it for awhile and when we were leaving she said, “I’m going to say a prayer for Zach and Tesi Klipsch.” What an awesome “coincidence” to have her fingerprint us! There truly are blessings in every day life, are there not?

Here’s to a week of blessings to you all!

I realized I haven’t posted this week much and it’s really been quite a big week! To start, on Tuesday I got to leave the office early because Ms. Hillary Clinton and her husband (I like to call them Billary) were in town. She was speaking right outside my office so the Secret Service came through our offices with bomb sniffing dogs and whatnot. I was fine with it all until I looked at her “stage” and saw they had put some well placed hay bales on it. Now, I got upset because I work in downtown Davenport where we haven’t seen hay bales in many, many years. Don’t read me wrong, I am extremely proud of where I come from and no one grows corn and other yumminess like Iowa, but seriously…she is surrounded by commerce and high rises, who are we fooling.

Anywhoo, that night we got word that my brother-in-law was offered and accepted a job here in Davenport which means….my BIL, SIL and nephews are moving back. Yippee! I have literally been praying for this for three years so this feels like a long time coming. So that is exciting! We also hit up a fun activity in our park here so Tman, mommy and Uncle Frank got our face painted, etc. We then watched fireworks with some friends. It was a late night but oh so worth it!

On the 4th, we went to breakfast with some friends down by the Mississippi. Zach and Trysten took off for camp and mom and Dailah took off for naps. 🙂 After that, we went with some friends to go swimming at the camp pool. We were in the water for about 4 hours and it was loads of fun. Then we BBQd with an OLD grill that ended up turning our meat into carcinogen-filled yukiness. Though I must thank the men for trying. After that we played a few games and were off! Needless to say we were a bit tired this week!

In fact, Trysten fell asleep on the way home last night at about 6, didn’t wake up until 5 this morning. He was pale and shaky and STARVING! After 2 pieces of PB toast, 2 bowls of cereal, 2 glasses of milk, 1 glass of hot chocolate and a leftover piece of pizza he felt much better. Oh what a life I lead!

This weekend will be great fun! My sister gets into town tonight so we’ll pick her up and head to the lakehouse. Next week I am childless as my sister/mom/dad will be watching the kids for the whole week. Miraculously I have pretty much all my nights planned with some fun kidless activities and interestingly enough none of them include packing! 18 days until we move, perhaps I should rethink my priorities….eh, not so much.

We also got our first “hurts the crotch” bill (as my husband would say) from our adoption agency. Though it was a few hundred bucks cheaper than I thought, it was still a month’s mortgage so it hurts. Owell, one step closer to bringing me kiddies home, right? Speaking of priorities….

One of the best things in the world about Trysten is how empathetic he is (mentioned previously, I think he gets it from me). I can’t get away with feeling anything (happy, sad, angry, etc) without him picking up on it. He is forever trying to comfort the sad, reassure the distressed and love the unloved. It is a truly unique characteristic in a 4-year-old and I’m so proud of him. It is one thing I hope he NEVER tries to hide or stop doing. He is so naturally gifted at it.

With that said, last night we decided to watch “Bridge to Taribithia”. DO NOT SEE IT. First off, it’s not very good and there are only a few scenes with any sort of imagination. Secondly, it is horribly sad and depressing. I won’t give it away but something truly awful happens. So I was crying (see post about 50 things about me) and then Zach got my attention so I could see Trysten crying. Zach asked what’s wrong and he said, “I didn’t want that to happen”. I was so mad at the movie for claiming it was a kids movie and then doing that. Arg! So for the rest of the night we had to reassure Trysten it was just a movie and it didn’t happen in real life. But my kid was crying! Oy it was so precious and sad at the same time.

The last week I’ve tried to explain cemetaries (yeah, that sucks), death, life, bodies, spirits, Jesus, and all things depressing to him. I am in no way cut out to do those motherly things.

On a lighter note, I also got to explain breasts to him after he tried telling me mine were two kids trying to come out. If he’s anything like his dad, it was just an excuse to touch breasts.

So for those of you who are now mad at me (mom) for not including pictures of my eldest, here you go. The picture of him in his skates was the ONLY time he was not holding on to me with a death grip while skating. Good thing he’s cute and a good kid…oh and look at the joy in the last one. The kids really do love each other. Trysten’s quote of yesterday after he was fighting a nap for the better part of two hours. “Mommy, why did God not make me take a nap today?” Way to go TZ, blame it on the big guy.

What a beautiful weekend! We had temps in the 75 degree range and it really couldn’t have been better.

To start, on Friday night we watched Blood Diamonds. Yikes! It’s what one must call a “must see, but shouldn’t see” as in, the first 15 minutes you should only peak through your fingers. It is awful and depressing but something everyone should see. I know that’s confusing and all, but I say if you’re able to get past Leo “I’m King of the world” Dicaprio with a British/South African accent, then you can get past anything.

Then on Saturday we had to do some shopping for my “poor” husband who last week forgot to take out his pen in his pants before laundry was done. Yes, most of you can see this coming. Pen explosions ensued and ruined pretty much all of his work clothes as well as most of my children’s PJs. The PJs they still wear, the work clothes? Not so much. Even more exciting was what came in the mail. You guessed it, our invitation to PAC! So we will FOR SURE be there in just 17 days. Also, the great land of Polk County sent me my 4 copies of Birth Certificates and 4 copies of our Marriage License. I take back the bad things I said about you, Polk Co, though you are still too hard on the wallet!

Sunday we went to church, small group and then pretended (or at least, Trysten pretended) to take naps. It was a great weekend but I had me such a hard day. Oh, I also got the whole top floor packed up (all of our rooms and bathrooms) with the exception of our closet. I’m holding off on that because I’m going through it with a fine tooth comb to donate some of my hardly used clothing. Oy! Moving day is July 23rd, I can no longer put it in the back of my mind!

Here some pics of Miss D. I’m obsessed with those beautiful eyes and kissable face! Too bad her big bro isn’t near as patient or you can see he’s just the same! Oh, and she can now clap and do the “so big” which is so cute it should be outlawed.