She had us at "Hello"

May 28, 2009 was a memorable day for our family, to say the least. It was the day we received a blessed phone call. The day we saw a precious smile. The day our hearts were stolen (never to be given back) by this baby girl, Rediet(meaning "Blessings")...
You can read about it here. One year later, that same girl sits on the couch where we first saw her face...
She plays with the phones we received the momentous calls on...
Today she is more than a darling face, she is our daughter and we delight in her...
Sigh.

But as always with adoption, there are two stories. Halfway around the world a grandmother, fresh with grief, relinquished her beloved to an orphanage. And then on May 28th, a family exuberant with joy, had a face to put to their dreams. I will never be able to comprehend how these both live in tension. But they do. And they must.

Her name is Luci May Rediet Kollar. She is named "May", not just for the incredible day when saw her face, but for all that the month of May means in her life, as well as ours. The loss and the beauty. The joy and the pain. Relinquishment and adoption. May is the month she was relinquinshed...

And the month she was matched with us and we with her...

Both are a part of her, though neither define her. And every step of the way she was held. Not just by her Ethiopian Mommy, her Ethiopian Grandmother, the caregivers, and us. She was held by a God who sees and who cares.

And He saw fit to allow us to hold her in our hearts and our arms forever. May 28,2010: not just loved from afar, but held close and dear...

There is no such thing as a lame excuse to party

Though this season of Idol has been lackluster in many ways, I was happy with the end result. I kind of thought Crystal should win, but I still wanted Lee to win. Ever since he hiked up the back of his pants in an early performance, I was sold.

It didn't really matter that I wasn't that into this season. I am not going to miss an opportunity to party. So I started making my plans for a Finale Party like we had last year. The only problem was I barely knew anyone watching this season to invite. But Grandma joined us...
And Emmie's sweet friend Faith...
Notice how the girls are outside. Most of the time the kids didn't even watch the Finale. And when they did they would say things like "Who are those old guys singing on stage?". Old guys= Darryl Hall and John Oates, the two remaining Bee Gee's, and the senior citizens formerly known as Chicago.

The Menu this year consisted of Chicken and Green ChiLee Dip ( Bill and Em's favorite dip that they call HeavenLee Dip)...
Spinach TorteLeeni Salad...
(It's supposed to be bowtie pasta in the salad, but clearly I had to make an adjustment given the occasion.)

StromboLee...
And Cheesy BroccoLee...
Umm, about the broccoli. Due to preparing the rest of the food while trying to watch the Finale, I sort of let the broccoli steam for endless days. So I had to turn it into creamed broccoli. It actually tasted yummy despite the fact that it looked barfy. Literally.

And to drink, of course, Crystal Light with crystal glasses...
Not much you can do with a name like Bowersox.

And now for my Season 10 Memoir...
Auditions:
Though we didn't even watch the auditions, every once in awhile someone in the family will spontaneously break into "Pants on the ground". Never Bill.

Coaches:
Harry Connick was the stand out coach. Shania was sweet. Miley Cyrus was a joke. And Adam Lambert? Really?

Contestants:
Emmie loved Didi. She cried when she departed. Tate tried to comfort her by saying, "That's how I felt when Bucky got kicked off." (True.) It got her to laugh anyway.

It's really not fair that Casey James has prettier hair that I could even dream of having.

Performances:
My mom crush on Justin Bieber was solidified by his performance on the show. Super cute. Love that little voice.

Love.love.love Michael McDonald.

Don't.don't.don't like performances where I have to tell my kids to close their eyes. Thank you very much Usher, Lady Gaga, and Ke$he.

Judges:
Does Randy Jackson even need glasses? The ones he wears don't even look like they have lenses in them sometimes.

Ellen. It started a little shaky like she had no clue what she was talking about. Then, it turned out that she really didn't have a clue what she was talking about. But that didn't matter. She really added something to the judge's table and to the show.

I was so glad to see Paula again. Isn't that crazy? She had become like family to me. The crazy relative at a family reunion, that is.

And yes, I teared up at Simon's farewell. Disturbing, but true.

I'm not gonna lie, it wasn't a grand affair. It was basically three people sitting on a couch, eating food with strange names, watching a TV show that has past it's prime, while kids swirled about. But we were home. We were together. And there was a lot of cheese involved. So, it was a good night.

Dancing Queen and Seventeen

Emmie is part of a new dance studio this year. Our old studio had a recital, but it was really on a low scale. The most I ever paid for a costume was $12. No tickets to purchase for the recital. Sweet and simple. I appreciated that.

But that studio ceased to exist and so we moved to one that came highly recommended. The monthly cost was just slightly more, but when the recital drew nearer the difference from last year became pronounced. Let's just say the costume didn't cost $12. And the recital is no longer in a church multi-purpose room, but in the high school auditorium. And it's not just one afternoon for 45 minutes. It's 3 performances at two hours each. And the price of tickets? Let's just say I complained for weeks that it cost $12 for each person in our family. Except Lulu. It would have been $8 for her ticket.

No longer simple. But, there was still much that I appreciated. In fact, I have had to apologize to the people that I complained to because, in the end, it was worth it. The show was high quality and very entertaining. There were darling dances as well as deeply moving routines. The costumes and dances were modest. And even though she was on stage only 3 minutes of the two hours, she loved being a part of something big.

The Before and After...
Behold the power of glitter eye shadow...
Helping backstage watching the girls giggling and skipping around made me smile...
Seeing Jack nervously give his sister flowers made me laugh...
(He actually enjoyed the show. Tate? Notsomuch.)

Watching my daughter get over her nervousness and actually smile during the last performance made me sigh. And what a smile it is...
I must admit, I may be doing a few kick ball changes as I twirl around the kitchen the past few days. She's not the only Dancing Queen in the family, ya know...
It was a busy weekend, especially considering our 17th anniversary was thrown in there as well.I had a delightful dinner at a Thai restaurant...
In a charming location...
With my favorite...
The Dancing King...

You know that I love you boy, hot like Mexico...

Happy Anniversary, babe. It's been 17 years.

17 years of fighting about the laundry. I think we've been in a groove lately though, don't you?

17 years of me cranking the heat up to 75 in the winter and you coming along behind me and turning it down to 69. It's been a delicate dance that I daresay, we have perfected.

17 years of me making the meals while you forgot how to make anything but mac and cheese and frozen pizza. 17 years of you doing all the dishes while I forgot how to even put my glass in the dishwasher.

17 years of science experiments growing in the tupperware, plants not growing in our home, and love growing in our hearts. Yes, I am more in love with you now than ever. And I'm not just saying that because this is the obligatory Anniversary post. I've been thinking about it and the thing is, I like you. I like my life better because you are in it. And I like myself better because you are in my life. Wait for it...

You.complete.me.

Seriously, it's been 17 years and 1,000 strands of togetherness that can't be easily broken. Our family has changed a lot through the years...

(Btw, we are positioned very awkwardly above. Look at my stiff hand.)

But the gratefulness I feel in getting to be your wife has not changed one bit. (Neither by the way, has your hair line.)

It's been 17 years of fox trotting in the kitchen to "I'll be with you in Apple-blossom time". And I hope to still be dancing in our kitchen when we are using walkers.

And so I say again: Happy Anniversary, babe. It's been 17 years that have fallen short of "ideal", yet far exceeded what I could have dreamed. I'm in love with you and I can't stop...

Unsolved Mysteries

All you CSI types, I need your help. Bill came downstairs the other morning (while I was still fast asleep of course). He stretched a bit on the floor of our living room then went out for a run. When he returned home, he let the Hairy Beast out into the backyard. As he was letting her out, he noticed a dead bird in the middle of the living room floor. Right where he had been stretching before his run.

Surely he could not have missed a dead bird on the floor right next to him as he stretched. The bird was not wet as if it had been "chewed on" not were there any signs of trauma. Other than the fact that it was dead. Which I suppose could be defined as "traumatic".

So what happened? If Ruby sneaked in with her little snack late last night, she didn't do much snacking on it. Or did the bird just sneak in all by itself. I am baffled. And slightly creeped out.

Bill offered to retrieve the intruder/victim from the trash so I could have a picture for this post, but I declined. See, I do have some sense.

There are other mysteries around here. Look closely at the following picture. It is one insanely long hair that repeatedly grows that long on my upper arm...
What is up with that? Sadly, I did not have enough sense to spare you from that picture.

Another mystery...why, oh why do I do the "scary eyes" in so many of my pictures?
It must stop. I'm going to give people nightmares.

Other things I don't understand: why do my kids think I am so uncool when even they tell me that their friends say I am cool?
Tate didn't even want us to volunteer for Field Day at his school, even though it was solicited. After I told him, he had no choice in the matter and that either Bill or I would be there he said with a bit of a twinkle in his eye "Try not to say anything, okay?" As long as I don't break out the "scary eyes", we should be okay.

And the final mystery of the day, how is it that I get to be so blessed as to work with these people...
Love 'em. Every one of them. Especially the guy with the "scary eyes" right behind me in the picture.

Traditions

Each year my boys go to our team's spring scrimmage...
My boys plus 77,933 other rabid fans...
No such thing as "just a scrimmage" for our team! We have the best fans, siriusly.

The night before the game, Jack prayed "Dear Lord, please let the Huskers beat...the Huskers."
And they did.

On the same day, the girls went to the Ladies Tea for our church. Last year it was just me and Em, but we added to our number this year...
I decorated a table this year. Because I was also the emcee, I wanted to keep it simple so the theme was "Going Green". Green is my favorite color and also my friend Rachel's, so between the two of us, it was easy being green...
I liked my table. I thought it was clever and visually pleasing. There's nothing wrong with liking my table, but I'm embarrassed to say that I was kind of practicing my surprised face in my mind just in case I won for the most creative table. I mean, how awkward to be emcee and win for one of the best tables. There was no need to be concerned, I didn't win. Not even honorable mention. Whatev.

But I did get some fun pix of Lulu and me...
That was the best thing I could have "won" since I rarely get these kind of pix being on the other side of the camera.

I have a bit of a love/hate relationship with traditions. I want to have traditions, but I get bored with them or forget about them. Just ask my kids how many "traditions" I've started and then ditched over the years...Sunday Subs, Saturday smoothies, Saturday morning pancakes, any form of exercise.

Weekly traditions get old to me. Once a month traditions I easily forget. But, I have learned that yearly traditions work well for me. I don't bore of something that comes around only once a year, instead I anticipate it. In fact, I'm already practicing my surprised look for when I win for my table next year at the tea.

Now it's time to think about some fun summer traditions that I will probably ditch. Any ideas? What are your traditions?

BIG NEWS: There's ANOTHER BABY in our house!!!

Sorry, I'm just messin' with ya. It's just bitty baby...
But our Luci May is learning so many new things, it almost feels like she is a new baby every day. She is 15 months now and I feel like I haven't chronicled a lot of how she has changed in the past 3 months. Yeah I know, poor baby doesn't get any attention does she?

Her vocabulary is budding. She has had down all the family members since before her 1st birthday. "Tate" and "Jack" used to both be "Da", but she said Jack's more robustly and that's how we could tell the difference. Fitting, isn't it? They are distinctly different now and she also says her name, Lulu, which comes out "LaLa" with her tongue sticking out.

Other words include "Hi" and "Hello", spoken every time she sees someone when we are out and each time she gets her little hands on a phone. Or anything remotely resembling a phone. On the other side of salutations, she also says "Bye Bye" ("BuhBuh") while vigorously waving. Usually followed (when she's feelin' the love) by blowing a kiss.

She also says "No No" (usually in response to Ruby's wagging tail in her face). It's so sweet and innocent when she says it now. Somehow, I think that could change in the future. Here is a quick video of her nodding "yes" and shake her head "no" with her own Lulu style...



Speaking of "Let your 'Yes' be 'Yes" and your 'No' be 'No'",I know I have the INCREDIBLE Bible teaching in our nursery at church to thank for the fact that she says Bible ("BaBuh") since they sing every week "Oh I love to pat the Bible" and have each baby pat a Bible. Our curriculum for the babies is one of my favorite things about our church. Here is Lulu patting the "BaBuh"...
And eating the "BaBuh" too...
They don't teach that at church. She's "home schooled" for higher learning skills like that.

Almost identical to Bible are what she calls Ruby ("BaBa") and belly button ("Baba" also). I, of course, can tell the difference because I am her mother. And because she is either pointing to the dog or her belly button. I'm observant like that.

Her vocab also includes the important baby words of uh oh and peekaboo. Both of which she used to just say half of the phrase ("uh" and "puhk" respectively), but now she's at 100% with them. Just like her grade average will be in school. (Oh, I kid.)

She likes to tote around a strange sort of security object, a bottle of vinegar...
She's quirky just like the rest of us, folks.

One of my favorite things she has started doing is coming to me with a book and backing up to sit in my lap. I love it when they do that! I never tire of reading "Maybe my Baby" or "A, You're Adorable"(Sung so adorably here) or "Baby Cakes" or "Whose Toes Are Those" or anything by Sandra Boynton. And neither does she...
Thanks to reading, dancing, and a new found interest in playing with some actual toys, she isn't as interested in scouring the carpet for random pieces of lint or pulling every item out of the pantry anymore. (Just the vinegar will do, thank you very much.) But she still has the potential to get into things if not closely watched instead of blogging.

Like my coffee mug, for example...
Thankfully, that one was empty. But the one that she spilled all over the floor (but thankfully not on herself) was not.

Despite letting such things happen from time to time, unfortunately I am the quintessential helicopter mom. With her walking (which is closer to running these days) and the warm weather, we now have all the perils of the outdoors to face (cars, concrete, stinging bugs, UV rays, doggie doo) which keeps me nervously hovering around her. That is in addition to the hazards lurking within the house. Hazards such as crashing through the baby gate and down the stairs. When that happened, I held her and comforted her and then did the only sane thing a mother would do. I gave her chocolate...
She recovered better than I did...
I probably should have had some chocolate too. Instead I breathed into a paper bag. I definitely should not mention that when she managed to crash through the ill-fitted babygate I was only a couple of feet away from her, but I was writing a blog post.

She is still as sweet as ever, but her spunk is coming out more and more as time goes on...
It took 13 months before any made an appearance, but she now has 6 teeth and several more trying to poke through...

Though there are a lot of new things she is doing, one thing has not changed. When she looks up at me like this...

I melt.