Kylanism's

Every morning my friend Sarah and I get up and walk and I am always telling her the funny things that Kylan says so she said I needed to post them on the blog as "Kylanism's" so here they are.

Mom, I need to walk every morning with you and Sarah because I have too many pounds but I don't know what they are.

Ms. Leah says I have lots of pounds but I still don't know what pounds are

My mom tells Kylan that he's a comedian and he says, "No I'm not I'm Korean"

Kylan gained like 9 lbs while on our cruise and he tells us everyday, "I sure do miss all of that good food from the cruise"

Before we went on the cruise Kylan didn't want to leave the house in shorts because he said his legs were to white and that Koreans are supposed to be tan. I tell him that if he will wear shorts then his legs will start getting tanner but if he wear pants then his legs will stay white and he turns to me and says, "Mom, it's just a vicious circle"....where did he get that??

He walks out of his room the other morning and says, "Mom, my cranium hurts"...that means he has a headache!

Kylan has been calling any type of sunglasses, glasses or reading glasses "spectacles" since he was about 3 yrs old! I just love his choice in words...too cute!

If you have something funny that he has said to you then email me and I will add it!

Kylan told us that he loved wearing his "tuck" while on the cruise and that he wants to wear it again sometime. Not a tux but a tuck!




Anytime he wants something and I tell him it's not in the budget at this time he tells me to just put it on my credit card or write a check for it because that's not "real" money.



Kylan ALWAYS says that Kevin's favorite color is brown. We wondered why until he told us well dad wears it everyday so he must just love brown! What can brown do for you??? Kevin works for UPS...LOL!!




When Kylan refers to the ship that we sailed on for our cruise he says, "Crew ship" because we were always telling him that the people that work on the ship are called the crew so he thought it was a "crew ship" not a cruise ship.





Kylan used to call Aunt Lori.....Uncle Larry! We thought that was so funny!

He also calls one of the guys from our small group at church Mr. Christy because he's married to Ms. Christy and he couldn't remember Steve's name so he just thought it was logical to call him Mr. Christy!




Anytime I ask him to help me and he thinks it's too hard he says, "I'm just a 7 yr old little kid"...ok like flushing the toilet and washing your hands is too hard for a 7 yr old! PLEASE!!!



This is a post from Grammy, "He asked me to marry him. He talked about it for weeks. He even showed me the eye ball ring he was going to buy me for my wedding ring. Then one day, he called and said, "Grammy I have loved you since the moment I saw you, but I can't marry you. I'm really sorry but I can't marry you because you are too old. And old ladies can't have babies, and I want a wife that can have a baby, I'm really sorry though". He was so serious about it, I just said well that's okay, thank God I'm too old to have babies. and God will have the right wife for you when you're old enough. That boy is so cute. I think this is a great thing for your blog. You will probably write a book. I will think of the other things he says. They are so funny"

Wal-Greens prints on sale!

I take a ton of photos and usually wait for Wal-Greens to have this sale 50 prints for $5. Just wanted to share it with all of you but it's only valid until May 30th. Upload all your photos to Wal-Greens and then use coupon code SUMMER5

Let me know if you use this!

Last UPDATE on Makenzie

We are so happy to announce that she has been released from being "home bound" and can now go out and enjoy the world again! We just want to thank everyone that kept her in your thoughts and prayers during this time of sickness! We appreciate all of the wonderful home cooked meals, balloons, goodie bags, cards and emails...they all helped cheer her up! We are so thankful that God has blessed our family with wonderful friends and family!!!

UPDATE on Makenzie

Well, we were really hoping and praying for good news yesterday but the DR said he thinks she's actually a little bit worse so she is still home bound for another week. He switched out some of her meds and still wants her to do breathing treatments and continue to rest. It's a good things she's homeschoooled or she would miss the last part of the year! Anyway, she's pretty emotional right now because she's used to being busy with church, dance, karate, friends and homeschool activities...she cries several times a day and sleeps for hours at a time. If you know Makenzie then you know she's normally so happy and active. She's so sad because she will be missing several field trips and the end of the year get together with one of our homeschool groups but I told her that her health is so much more important then any of these other things. She cried for several days thinking that her dance teacher was going to kick her off the dance team for missing so many days of practice but we talked to Shayna and she told us not to worry about it because Kenzie is a hard worker and she still has several months until the national competition and that they are praying for her recovery....I just love Shayna!
Please keep praying for Kenzie and for me...I'm going a little stir crazy staying at home all of the time too!

Makenzie has angels watching over her!

Makenzie with her bag of from her BFF
Kylan playing doctor

Makenzie playing doctor with a Webkin


The kids were playing hospital and all of the webkinz were the patients

After Makenzie was feeling better her and I were playing with my phone taking pictures and playing games because she was really bored.

Early on Friday morning I woke up to a terrible sound, I jumped out of bed opened my door and found Makenzie on the other side of it struggling to breathe. I picked her up and carried her to the couch and asked what was wrong but she didn't have enough air to talk and was a purplish blue color so I dialed 911 and spoke with the dispatcher. The dispatcher could hear Makenzie struggling to breathe and told me to stay on the line until the ambulance arrived. At that point I yelled for Kevin to please get up and come help me, he jumped out of bed fully awake (which is a miracle because I usually have to shake him to wake him) and ran to the living room, I handed him the phone and tucked a blanket around Makenzie because she was shaking so badly and held her in my lap and continued praying for her. Kevin went outside to watch for the ambulance and as soon as they pulled up they put her on the gurney and hooked her up to some machines and asked which hospital we wanted her taken to. I told them my preference and noticed them glance at each other so I then asked which was closer and they said they other one so we changed it to the other one and hopped in the ambulance and took off with Makenzie clutching my hand tightly and tears streaming down her little face and a panicked look in her eyes. I just kept holding her hand telling her it would be OK and praying for her the whole time and the next thing I know her little hand went limp and her eyes rolled back in her head and she started convulsing and the paramedic said to the driver, "Floor it we are losing her", this was one of the most terrifying moments in my entire life and I just felt the blood drain out of my face and I thought I was going to faint. He then asked me if they had permission to intubate her if they needed to and I said , "yes, of course" he put another mask over top of the little oxygen line that he had on her and said it should help and within seconds she was breathing normally and he said her oxygen level had gone from 27% to 100%. The color started coming back to her face and she was already starting to breathe better. As they rolled her into the ER I felt relief and knew that she was going to be OK. In about 10 minutes Kevin and his mom showed up and told me that Grandpa was with Kylan at home. Makenzie was doing so much better by now and smiled at them. We stayed at the ER for a couple of hours so they could monitor her and do some chest X-rays and then she was released but the DR told me to go get all of her meds right then because she was going to need them. In the end she is on 6 different meds. a breathing treatment and an inhaler but she's doing great right now. She's sleeping with us at night so I can monitor her and she's not allowed to leave the house until Wednesday for a doctor's checkup but she seems fine. She's very thankful to all of our friends and family that have called and emailed her and one of her BFF's dropped of a Get Well Soon bag with a bunch of goodies and a balloon...this really perked her up! Please continue to pray for her that the pneumonia and croup are totally gone and that she is totally healed without any physical restrictions because she's such an active little girl!

The doctor's at the hospital were really great with Makenzie because they put all of her masks and tubing in a bag for her and Kylan to play doctor with and they even sent a mask home for Kylan. We were in such a hurry that Kenzie left the house with no shoes or slippers on so they gave her a little pair of footies to wear home so her feet wouldn't be cold. I'm so glad that we changed our mind and decided to go to Bailey because they were GREAT and I would recommend this hospital to all of our friends and family!!

Psalm 91:11-12 (New International Version)
11 For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways;
12 they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone

Luke 4:10-11 (New Living Translation)
10 For the Scriptures say,
‘He will order his angels to protect and guard you. 11 And they will hold you up with their hands so you won’t even hurt your foot on a stone.’[a]”

Me...and some more Me...and a little more me

Me...and some more Me...and a little more me (blame Julia)
Julia from My Life...In Sweatpants has tagged me and wants to know more about me...hmmm, I'm sure that my life isn't that ineresting but here it goes

What's your current obsession? cleaning my house and de-cluttering...it just seems like we collect stuff and I'm so tired of having so much stuff...we are giving stuff away...if you want some just let me know!

What's your weirdest obsession? dirty ears, it just drives me crazy to seem a little bit of yellow wax in someones ear UGGGGGG, YUCK, it grosses me out totally. I clean my ears constantly and have been told repeatedly by my doctors that a little wax is ok but, "I just can't handle the wax!"

What are you wearing today? Uh, I am in my PJ's still

Why is today special? My daughter is alive...she almost didn't make it yesterday!

What would you like to learn to do? Karate, I've always wanted to learn it and now that my kids are in it I'm thinking about taking it too!

What's the last thing you bought? a large amount of presciptions for Makenzie

What are you listening to right now? my kids fighting about red fire ants and if we have them in our yard (we don't)

What's your favorite weather? Sunny, and warm...beach or pool weather

What's your most challenging goal right now? Losing this fat surrounding my stomach, and butt, and thighs.

What do you think about the person who tagged you? Julia is AWESOME!! I just love her so much she's super talented at Piggies and Paws and very creative with her feather headbands and her house is decorated so cute it makes me drool!

What's your favorite guilty pleasure? Reese's Peanut Butter Cup Eggs. It is a seriously good thing that those are only around at Easter time and I just adore Peanut butter chocolate ice cream from Baskin Robbins but I don't get if very often!

Favorite vacation spot? We loved WDW but now I think it's got to be the cruise we just took...I know this isn't a spot but we had the BEST time and our kids said they loved it as much or more then Disney.

What would you like to have in your hands right now? I am happy that Kenzie is still with us and that's she on her way to better health...that's all that I want in my hands right now is my kids!

What would you like to get rid of? The fat on my body

If you could go anywhere in the world for the next hour, where would you go? a tropical island, to float in the water and relax in the sun

What language do you want to learn? Korean, so I could teach my children the language of the country that they were born in

What super power would you like to possess? The ability to clean up messes in a second, I am constantly cleaning up after my family and as often as I remind them to pick up they still don't have that ability yet....will they ever have it???

What your favorite thing about the city you live in? The small town feel and running into friends at the store, the pharmacy, the bank, the library, etc. you get it, we run into friends everwhere in our little town!

What's your favorite piece of clothing in your closet? Choco brown has become my favorite color and I just bought some cute choco brown bermuda shorts and I love them!

What's your dream job? Actually I've wanted to be a mommy for a long time and it took a long time, lots of praying, lots of paperwork, time and money to finally have our children and this is the BEST job in the world and I wouldn't change it for anything. My dream job before kids was marine biologist...go figure in landlocked Oklahoma!

If you had $150 now what would you spend it on? I'd save it

Do you admire anyone's style? I know I sound like a total copycat here...but Audrey Hepburn and Reese Witherspoon both are total classics that never go out of style!

Describe your personal style. I don't know if I have a style...at home I wear sweats, I wear jeans around town and I love to have a couple of cute new shirts for each season...

Who's fashion show would you want tickets to? Badgley Mischka because their Old Hollywood–style gowns are amazing

Who's closet would you like to raid? Reese Witherspoon!

What are you most proud of? My husband and kids.

If you could choose one person who had passed to have lunch with who would it be and why? My Grandma Tinker, she died before I had children and I would love to tell her all about them, I know she would love them so much!
RULES: If you're tagged...get to answering! Copy the questions and tag some of your friends just to tick them off!!
I am tagging people that I've never tagged before and here they are!

1. Leah at Ahh, these are the days of our lives....
2. Daci at Bush Family Adventures
3. Elizabeth at Jared & Elizabeth Family
4. Melissa at Zum the Mum
5. Sarah at Austin Family Blog

Skate park with friends

It was such a sunshiney, beautiful day today so we loaded up the kids and met some friends for a picnic at the skatepark. They brought chalk, bikes, scooters, ripsticks, a wing scooter and a hoola hoop. We all had a blast!

Sound of Music-it's amazing watch the whole thing!

Easter activities

Easter is always such a busy time of year for us and this year was no exception. We went to 4 Easter egg hunts throughout the week, made Easter s'mores, 2 Easter lunches with both sides of the family, church, colored eggs and Makenzie had some fun with Girls club at the girly girls house (they made Easter bracelets, had a Bible study, an egg hunt, made placemats, dressed in Easter outfits and played). It's a fun week but I'm very tired now and we did all of this in addition to our "normal" homeschool activities, dance classes, church and karate...whew I'm ready for a vacation!!!

Easter egg hunting

The kids were very fortunate this year and went to 4 Easter egg hunts. One at Grandpa's work, one at FUMC (Grandma and Grandpa's church), one at Grammy's and one at Grandma and Grandpa's house. Here is a slideshow with all of the hunts included!

Punky monkey missions

Hey, just wanted to let everyone know that my sweet, little princess started a blog today and this is the link to it http://punkymonkeymissions.blogspot.com/

I am so proud of her because after one of her friends encouraged her to start selling some webkinz clothes and raise money for missions she came up with this blog concept and so we set it up tonight!

Happy 7th Gotcha day to Kylan

This was the very first time I met Kylan. He was not a happy boy and was scared of me. I only had 1 hour with him that first day and he cried for about 45 min of it.

This was pure bliss...holding my son for the VERY first time. I had been dreaming about this day for months and months. After so much paperwork, days of crying and praying for this child the day had finally arrived!

Yes, he finally calmed down enough so I could hold him!

This is the board with the babies names that are leaving Korea
Kylan's foster mom saying goodbye to him. It was really hard on her to let him go and she cried a lot. We are very thankful that she took such great care of him while he was waiting for us to finish up all of the red tape (Paperwork).


The moment he was placed in my arms before we were leaving Korea. This was his "Gotcha" moment for me. This is what I think of on his special day. Yes, I am crying...notice the time 12:35pm in Korea. We arrived home the same day but it was actually about 30 hrs later due to travel and time changes and crossing the International date line and everything


Now, I am not crying just happy that he's finally in my arms and we are leaving for the US pretty soon!

Kylan in his white hanbok that we bought for Connie and Brian's wedding








Kevin and Makenzie dropping me off at the airport for my journey to South Korea to pick up Kylan and work for 2 weeks on a MOMs mission trip with Dillon International

7 years ago today I woke up in Seoul, South Korea anticipating the moment when Kylan's foster mom would place my son in my arms and I would be able to get on an airplane and bring him home to meet his daddy and sister and the rest of our friends and family for the very first time. The moment he was placed in my arms was a feeling that I will NEVER forget, it was such a miracle adoption and when the moment that we had been dreaming of had finally arrived I was overcome with joy, and just started crying and thanking God for this little miracle boy.

This is such a happy day for us but I have noticed that the older my kids have gotten the more questions they seem to have on their gotcha day. I know it's a happy day for them as well but in some ways they seem a little sad too. I just pray that we can answer all of their questions to the best of our ability and that Kevin and I are sensitive to their inquisitiveness about their adoptions, foster families and especially about their birth family and the reasons that they were not able to stay in Korea. We do try to teach them as much about Korean culture as possible and they go to a Korean culture camp every summer (which they LOVE). They learn Korean songs, dances, Tae Kwon Do, Korean games, how to eat with chopsticks, Korean food and many other things plus they built friendships with other children that were adopted from S. Korea. Every time we pick them up at camp and I look out across a sea of black haired children I am thrilled that our adoption agency has this opportunity for our children. They come home talking about how all the kids at camp look similar to them and I can see that this excites them and makes them happy. OK is not a very multi-cultural state so when the kids see other Asians they always ask me if they are Korean too and I wonder if it bothers them that in most of our groups (except our adoption friends) they are the only ones that are not Caucasian.

If you have questions about International adoption please click here. To read what I wrote about Kylan's 6th gotcha day in 2008 and read about the other end of the trip which was the arrival in OK click here.

For more info on Korea go to Seoul.net

Our snowman!

Yesterday after church we came home, had some lunch and then ran outside to make a snowman and have a snowball fight before all the snow melted away...it was almost 60 degrees so it was melting quickly!

Kenzie's dance competition

The road conditions were horrible!

The crew

Makenzie

The girls did really well in this competition they took the High Gold trophy. We are so proud of them for working so hard. Here are a couple of pics that I took and a couple are courtesy of another dance mom named Elizabeth. It took us almost an hour just to get to the comp. due to the snowy weather and we were stopped on the highway for around 20 min. because some of the cars couldn't make it up the hill. 6-8" of snow is a lot for our area...we usually only get ice!

John 3:16 Mission

Last Friday night we went with friends and volunteered at the John 3:16 mission. It was such an eye opening experience. To read more about click here because my friend that we volunteered with told about it better then I ever could.

Homeschoolers in the news!

Our local newspaper did a story on the homeschooling community in our area and OK in general. Teresa Poore is the leader of the homeschool group that the kids and I are involved in. While most of the article was true Teresa Poore did tell me that they twisted some of her words around to make it fit the story so she is sending something in and hoping that they will publish it.
Click here to read more!

Another mom that is a homeschool veteran has posted some comments regarding the article and I thought they were very succinct and insightful. So, to take a look at Cindy's blog click here. She has a wealth of knowledge and is very helpful for homeschool families in our area so be sure to bookmark her blog!

Posts

Just wanted to let all of my readers know that I will only be posting ramdomly for a while due to the fact that I need to spend more time focusing on my children. I will continue to read your blogs and follow along with your lives though!

Birthday wishes

Today is my 36th birthday and I have the funniest little story to tell. Kevin told the kids that now we are both 36 yrs old (until next month when he turns 37). Our son Kylan says in his sweet little boy voice, "Daddy, I thought you were 54!" I was laughing so hard because of the look on Kevins face! Kids really have no concept of age in adults. When I was little I thought my Grandparents were always 50 because that seemed so "old" to me but now that I'm getting closer to 50 it doesn't seem quite that old anymore.

Newest blog award!

I have accepted an award from ShaRhonda at The 4 Crows. Thanks ShaRhonda for noting me!

This award acknowledges the values that every blogger shows in his/her effort to transmit cultural, ethical, literary and personal values every day.The rules to follow are:

1) Accept the award, post it on your blog together with the name of the person that has granted the award and his or her blog link.

2) Pass the award to another 15 blogs that are worthy of this acknowledgment. Remember to contact each of them to let them know they have been chosen for this award.

I have chosen the following blogs to receive this award and I have broken them down into categories, if you aren't one here I still love your blog! I also didn't pick people that haven't posted in a long time because I didn't think that was fair to others that post a lot! So, if you are listed please keep this going and list your fav. blogs on your blog and copy the award and add to your blog sidebar!

ADOPTION

Mika at The Garnett Family

Lois at Hearts in China

Dana at Our Heart and Seoul

Kelley at Three Countries One Family

Michele at My Blessings from Above

HOMESCHOOL/CHURCH

Christy at Mom of Two Girly Girls

Margo at My 5 Blessings

Jennifer at 6 Happy Hearts

Steph at Legos, Light Sabers and Jones Soda

Sarah at 5 Jesus Freaks

BLOGS I LOVE TO READ

Ashley at The Draper House

Julia at My Life... in Sweatpants

Dawn at Dawn's Diversions

Traci at Living the Good Life

Sandra at Sandra's Little Thoughts

Big day!

Today was my first big day out and about since I have been sick and it was a really long day! Makenzie had a dance competition and we had to have her at the Performing Arts Center by noon for hair and makeup and then they danced around 2ish and awards were 5-6 so needless to say it was a VERY long day but very exciting because this was her first competition since she started dancing in Oct. and her hip hop group won first place. She's 8 and since all the other girls are older she has to dance in the 11-12 age group so we were very proud of her for keeping up with the older girls! Enjoy the pictures I love the won of her doing her scorpion freeze....let me know what you think! She told us that she was so happy to be competing again and that she had really missed it since she quit competitive cheerleading so she was so happy and it's always nice to see your children happy and confident!