Lots of pictures, lots of funny tidbits about what we’ve been up to but for now just a word to say we are heading to the Ethiopian picnic in Minnesota for the weekend. Zach has to work so it’ll just be the kids and yours truly. Right now the excitement at seeing some of my travel group and meeting some of my blog friends has overshadowed the fact that I’ll be in the car, by myself, with three kids under the age of 6. That and the fact that we get to stay with Matthew, Amanda and Teshome who we traveled with and who Tariku has been SOOO excited to see…We are really going to have a fun, hot, weekend.

So if you’ve missed me this last week (how could you not, seriously?) you’ll get more than enough hotflawedmama upon our return. Hope to see you there!

Adopting that is…

Most of you already know this, probably, or have at the very least picked up what I’ve thrown down on this here blog. Or perhaps it’s the fact that I’ve been wanting to adopt again since we brought Tariku home…tough to say.

So we’re in process. Our homestudy is done. Our agency is chosen and they’ve accepted our application. We’re literally within sight of the exciting part, but…

We are waiting on grant news. So we wait and wait. I’ve actually been pretty patient this time and if you remember from Tariku’s adoption (how could you forget faithful followers?) patience has never been a virtue of mine.

But Zach and I know we’re being called to do this. Probably the last time. To finish our family strong. People always say don’t let money be the thing that stops you from adopting so we’ll go with that. We know if it is a God thing (which we’re pretty certain it is) it’ll be taken care of so we just have to wait.

I’m awesome throughout the day. Taking care of the kids and doing my few hours on the job occupies my mind pretty well. Then I lay my head down to sleep and it fails me. I am a sleeper, you all know that about me, so these last few months of shaky sleep at best is not so fun. It’s like I said in this post, the in between makes for some complicated moments in my brain.

So, in short, we are super excited to be adding to our family again. As of right now we are thinking 2 kids ages 3 and under or so. That could change or it might not. This process could take 6 more months or 2 more years, we just have no idea. But we’re thrilled at the whole thing.

Suffice it to say if you guys have a rich uncle you’ve been hiding from me and he’s recently asked you if you needed a few thousand dollars for anything, keep us in mind. 🙂

Thanks for coming along, for riding this crazy train of mine. So many of you have been the rock that I needed in ways I didn’t even know. The only support when there wasn’t any. The women (and men, hey dad, hey Tony!) who made my crazy seem commonplace and I thank you for that from the deepest part of me. Hope you come along for this ride too because I’m sure there is more craziness, and lots of cookie dough, ahead.

Much love, from this gal.

Was looking through old pictures to see what I hadn’t posted and what might be interesting to put in my scrapbook, er, blog.

Dailah is cute, you know it, I know it, unfortunately she knows it. But what is hard to portray in a few words is this girl’s personality. She is hilarious. Not hilarious in a 2 1/2-year-old way but hilarious in a could-have-her-own-Bravo-show way. I came across this picture and it caught one of her faces. She must have just been talking to herself here, hence the sass. But it’s all about the details. Painted nails, high ponytail, legs crossed with hand underneath. She’s my little button and cracks me up daily.

My sister-in-law, Kait, is in Mexico right now volunteering. She is awesome, whenever I’m with her we have fun. Here’s a picture for proof, just hanging out laughing lots. I miss her a lot and can’t wait for her to come home but am so happy she’s getting such an awesome experience. Love you, sis!

Since I’m never in pictures with my kids I want proof that I was actually with them all day. Sometimes self portraits are where it’s at; however, after this one and all the hair, arms and wrinkles I might just settle on training Abe how to snap pics.

When we were preparing to adopt from Ethiopia, Zach and I would talk about our possible future children. We’d look at other Ethiopians and wonder if ours would have that forehead, chin, etc. NEVER in my wildest dreams did I picture a beauty such as this. The real kicker is his outside doesn’t do justice to his inside. I’ve kind of, maybe, told the kids if they didn’t stay buckled in the car then the police will put me in jail. So Dailah was threatening to unbuckle tonight and Tariku yells frantically, “Stop Dailah! I don’t want mom to go to jail! I need her here with me!” Which made me get a little choked up. Then Trysten chirps in, “Mom, if you go to jail, I want to come with you.” I have some pretty great kids. But seriously, don’t you want to jump through the computer a plant a fat one on this kid? (On a side note, Tariku hasn’t perfected the art of kissing yet. He purses his lips and pretty much gives open mouthed kisses every time. Slightly uncomfortable but cute nonetheless).

Tariku Asamu Abiyu Xavier Klipsch will be yours.

This morning we (finally) re-adopted Tariku. While most of my travel group was on the ball (thanks for rubbing that in, friends) and did it right away, we took our sweet time. No reason other than I had myself convinced that filling out one more piece of paperwork would literally kill me. Had I known how this day would feel, I would’ve sucked it up sooner.

It happened in Ethiopia before, when they called us his parents. I cried then when the birth certificate came with my husband and my names listed us as his rightful parents. It was a big day then, obviously, but I wasn’t there. I was today. I got to say yes to parenting him for the rest of my life. The judge had obviously been through this once or twice but all I wanted to do was shout from the rooftops that I pulled a quick one on God. I seriously can’t believe He gave us this child. It doesn’t make sense, but I’m not going to bring that up to the big guy.

Anyway, I had been telling Tariku this day was coming but obviously he didn’t really understand the impact. To him, I was mom, no idea why we needed to go through this step (me either, by the way). But we tried to make it a day about him. So in the morning we quickly went to the courthouse where two of his grandparents, two of his aunties and two of his cousins came to watch the judge gavel his way into our life.

(Zach was really happy, just feeling under the weather).

This juror was very enthusiastic about Tariku being ours forever.

Here is the best picture my sister took of us with the judge and lawyer. Our lawyer is the best, I really can’t say that enough.

Our first photo of 5 American citizens (on a side note it was also a sad day when thinking about Tariku losing his Ethiopian citizenship, more to come on that I’m sure)

She found lipgloss and was then satisfied the rest of the day.

So after all of that Tariku decided he wanted chocolate chip pancakes from Village Inn. I swear he was not convinced it was a big deal until Papa bought him remote control cars; then it suddenly seemed like a VERY big deal to him.

After this we went to Leslie’s to play for awhile, of course with the cars.

With no cars for these two yahoos they chose instead to focus on intense cuteness.

Quarterly is called quarterly because, well, it comes up every quarter. 🙂 This is the time when we get to go do any of the 9 classes Les Mills has to offer. I am an instructor for Pump, Flow and Step but it’s my chance to take those and any others. I get most excited for Combat and Jam.

Like I said before, I brought some ladies with me who aren’t instructors but who are some of the biggest champions in fitness that I know. One of them has lost over 150 pounds, one of them is a mom to two who works full time but has found a balance that works to get her to the gym and work her butt off. Another is from Germany and is therefore just cooler than I am. She also bumps up her weight quicker than most people and has even come to Step despite being slightly intimidated by it. The other is my sister who missed Combat from her old gym, I also happen to enjoy sharing things with her.

It was a perfect group. We had so much fun together and experiencing those many hours of fitness with each other just brought the whole thing home. I am so very blessed to have the job I have. Meeting people like this really is worth it. Inspiring women, all of them.

Doing some tricep pushups at Pump.

Those of us who did Step (minus Kara)

The signs on the stage for the presenters.

My peeps doing Combat (bad picture, but you get the idea)

Friday came. It was my birthday and my mom’s birthday, of course. Since she had come into town the night before we were able to spend at least part of our birthdays together.

So we woke up and my amazing hubby made us his birthday special…pancakes with our initials on them.

After some time with my mom and the kids, it was time to head to Chicago. My terrific parents babysat the kids for the weekend so that I could go to Chicago for the Les Mills quarterly. I had invited some of the people who take my classes who inspire me to come to be inspired themselves. My sister, Ann and I rode to Chicago together. As I picked Ann up she brought out basket of goodies and this…change for the tollway. She’s a thinker that one.

Since it was my birthday and Zach was nowhere in sight I wanted to get sushi (Zach hates sushi). So we rode the train into the city and got some delicious, delicious food. Here is a picture of some of it. The spicy tuna roll melted my heart and made me fall in love all over again.

Somehow the restaurant was out of most of their wines on their wine list so I thought I’d try a Plum wine. Not impressed, at all. But a pretty color either way.

We also did some saucy texting, which was hilarious.

The end of my birthday night ended with a drink at our hotel. It was a great day. Spending it with these ladies made it so very special.

Tuesday was also Trysten’s Kindergarten “graduation-type-thing”. They basically put on a 20 second play and then showed a picture slideshow for 30 minutes. I love my son and all, but I know what he looks like and I take enough pictures as it is. But we went, because that’s what you do as a mom. And because I’m so incredibly proud of him.

I really can’t believe he’s old enough to be a kindergarten graduate. Seriously so, so honored to be called mommy by this boy.

This was actually his last day (Friday) but super cute.

Tariku eating the cake at the graduation.

Trysten was a cloud during the play. Seen here being arguably the best cloud ever to walk the earth.

Our family shot. Don’t ask why I didn’t change before I went, it was a busy day and I felt less than perfect.

Papa teaching Dailah the balance beam basics.

The Doozie enjoying her cake.

Where did the week go? Last Sunday was my nephew, Oliver’s, birthday party. He turned 5 and here are some pictures of his costume party.

The next day Dailah and Tariku were still in the mood to costume.

Tuesday was my mom-in-law’s birthday. (Also my oldest dog, Aristotle. He turned 5, precious guy). Tuesday night I had book club. Since my birthday was on Friday Beth had made a cake and put a “T” in candles. I really love my book club.

Wednesday night we went to a restaurant to celebrate all of our birthdays and a few friends came out for that. It was loads of fun. Thursday was my brother-in-law’s birthday. Also the night my mom came into town which allowed Zach and myself to get a dinner alone, which was fabulous.

Friday was both my birthday and my moms. More to come on that day and the weekend.

when you’re 200 yards from your house?

This weekend was our last weekend before Zach officially starts camp season. This Friday the counselors come, next Monday the kids come. Zach is no longer Zach, he’s Maverick (his camp name). He’s no longer daddy, he’s boss. We’re happy to share him, because he’s great at what he does and we believe in getting kids away from the gameboys and into nature, but we miss him…lots. So we celebrated Father’s Day and went camping last night.

Truth be told hotflawedmama is never excited about camping. Zach asked how I could know I don’t like it since I haven’t gone in, oh, 10 years. It’s simple. I like sleeping in my own bed, I hate bugs, I love uninterrupted sleep and I like having something more than a glorified sheet between me and hungry animals. But, since I love that guy so much I agreed.

And it turned out fun (except for the sleep thing). After a yummy cookout, some games, and some books we tucked the kids in. They wanted to sleep in the same tent together so we let them try. After an hour of their precious giggles coming from the tent we separated them. Dailah and hotflawedmama in one tent, the boys in the other. Which basically means Dailah and I froze with 0 body heat and Zach woke up dripping in sweat. Anywho, worth the memories. And the pictures.

What Zach did when we first got out to the site.

What I did..indulged.

The moment the tent was up, the kids were playing some UNO.

Doozie during gametime.

After books and before all the giggling. Pardon the shot of my legs (seriously?) but they looked so excited to sleep together.

How they were “sleeping” originally.

It was cooooold in the morning.

But warm with lots of love.

Just my lovies.

Not bad for our first ever family camping experience.

I need to take blogging breaks more often. I received a number of emails, comments and facebook messages asking where I went and why I’m not telling you about our days anymore. I really felt the love, people, and appreciate that! So mostly just enjoying life over here in flawedmama land. Here are a few reasons why.

1) Baseball. Though the coaches leave a little to be desired, Trysten is having a hoot of a time. And look how precious he looks in his little uniform.

2) More baseball. Trysten loves playing catch with his dad. His dad loves playing catch with his son. Dad often gets a face that exudes more pride than a man his age should ever show. Though we’re trying very hard not to put all of our passions on our children, when a kid has this arm it’s hard not to. 🙂

3) Wedding receptions. Had one for a high school friend of mine last Saturday. I hadn’t seen her or a few of the other girls there in a LONG time. I’m one of those women who believes very strongly in the power of females and specifically, the power of female friendships. I didn’t know I was missing something in my life but after having spent some time with these girls I realized I missed them more than I thought. My cup runneth over. (sorry bad picture, it was from my phone)

4) The lake. Last weekend after said wedding reception we went to my parents’ lakehouse. Decent weather, lots of fun. Proof is, as they say, in the pudding. Thus, the pudding:

5) Dailah got a hair cut. It was traumatic (for me, not her) but it’s oh so cute. There’s a decent chance it’ll be grown back by tomorrow morning with her hair’s tenacity but I must say she’s cute regardless. And the girl simply loves to be doted on.

What else? Oh yes…

6) Celebrating Julie’s referral for her precious little boy and girl. As you can see from her 126 comments (seriously, 126! If you lined everyone I’ve ever known up, it might reach to 126!) the adoption (and entire cyber) world celebrated with her.

That’s it in a nutshell. Still loving life over here, even more so because the sun is out. The sun is out, I have a husband with the sweetest butt in the world who I happen to love more than anything, kids who could win best children ever and 2 four legged friends who are presently begging for some lovin’. Not a bad life indeed.