Cautiously Optimistic

We had a "couple contact" yesterday from a birth-family here in NY. There is a young woman who is expecting and open to placing the baby for adoption. The birth-father's mother wrote a lovely letter asking that we start the communication process.
Of course our natural response is to be excited. The baby BOY is due May 20th.
Our case worker suggested that we be cautiously optimistic. It's difficult to be open but yet guarded. We so much want to have this happen.
We wrote back last night and are trying hard to not appear to eager but yet have the right balance of excited etc.

I was thinking about it in the shower this morning. I wish I had realized earlier what a remarkable woman Benjamin's birthmother is. Don't get me wrong we have always been in awe of her, but she made things so easy for us. She wanted her little boy to have parents and when she was confident that he had them, she walked out of the hospital and let us parent him. She has taught me so many lessons. Because of her I have had a glimpse of the Savior love and acceptance of all of us, even with our shortcomings. How I love and honor her! Because I'm bawling I'm going to wrap up this post. Pray for us please. The next few months will be exciting and scary and hopefully Ben will wind up being a big brother.

I still had my camera in my bag yesterday at school from the night before's woodworking activity. So I pulled it out and took some shots of Benjamin at school yesterday. Look at the little turkey at the computer. He has mastered the mouse and so enjoys playing some of the games that they have. He can color and do a counting and matching game. I swear that kids today are born with a USB cable. He amazes me. Ben also enjoys the light table and the different things that are put out on it. Often there is a train set and sometimes a building kit. The other table often will house rice, or sand, beans, bears, or even snow. The teachers change it out depending on the topic for the week/month.
We are afraid that with the budget cuts they might cut this play and learn program. We have been told there will be changes but are unsure what they will look like. It will break my heart if they do get rid of it. We have loved the activities and the friends that we have made.

Builder workshop

Tonight we went to a builder's workshop at the school. Lowe's sponsored it and we got to build a lovely snowman. Benjamin loved swinging the hammer.

I will say that I wish Joseph had been able to go. I felt a little out of place as many fathers were there with their kiddos. Joseph had cub scouts.

Benjamin was proud of his creation and did I mention that he loved swinging the hammer? Too bad we couldn't get him to look at the camera.

Climber

Benjamin is a climber. Need proof? This is today's afternoon activity.....

Snow cave

This weekend Joseph hollowed out two sides of the snow pile down the driveway. It made a lovely igloo and it's nice that Ben can crawl through.

glasses

This weekend Benjamin decided to steal Joseph's glasses. We thought that he looked particularly astute.

Snow shoes

We bought snow shoes for Christmas for the whole family. Late last week we went traipsing through the 3 ft snow drifts in our back yard and in the field behind our house. It felt so good to be outside again. Benjamin navigates really well in them. This week the temp is back in the single digits and we are inside for the time being.

Museum

We recently went to the Science Center in Ithaca. We had a ball. We liked it so well that we went ahead and purchased the membership. Luckily the membership is reciprocal and we can use it at the Most here in Syracuse and in about 100 other children's science museums around the country. Here are some shots of Ben enjoying the water / duck exhibit. My batteries died just after these shots.

the Chase

We were downloading our video's from the flip and I had to share this one. It is older as it was filmed in December, but it is so typical of what happens when Daddy get's home from work. The chase ensues. Daddy and Ben go round and round the natural circle from the kitchen thru the family room into the living room thru the entryway and dinning room and back again. It's hilarious because there is always a lot of pitter patter, calls of "catch me Daddy" and healthy dose of squealing.
This little kido cracks us up!

Winter fun

We went sledding yesterday at a hill in Chittenango. I was amazed at how fearless Benjamin is. He went down the hill like a pro and even went to the biggest hill (reserved for teenagers) and went down it no problem. As we were leaving he saw a snow boarder and said "I want to do that!" Daddy's comment was, "I know, and it's going to cost me 2 lift tickets and a lot of Saturdays."



Our neighbors had the town leave them a mound of dirt and gravel earlier this spring that they thought they would use in their landscaping. Instead it is frozen solid and we have been using it as a mini sled hill. It's nicer this year in that Benjamin will go sledding etc. He still doesn't love the cold. But we manage to have a good time outside.

Daddy and Ben hollowed out this igloo that our neighbors started. In fact it was the catalyst for my idea to take the snow-blower to our back yard. I made a circle and blew all the snow into a pile on top of and around the picnic table. Now Ben climbs up on the table and can slide down the other side. It's not a long track but we've had fun.