Darin and Jean

Alot to be thankful for!

noreply@blogger.com (Darin, Jean, Samson & Sydney) — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 19:12:00 +0000

We will be finalizing our adoption on either December 22nd or 29th (depdending on confirmation of court availability).

We will be having an adoption party on January 9th with an open house reception from 4 - 6 PM.

Let us know if you'd like to come and we'll send you the info.

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Happy October

noreply@blogger.com (Darin, Jean, Samson & Sydney) — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 04:36:00 +0000

I do hope you are sitting down...otherwise it may come as too much of a shock that I have finally managed to sit down and post an update.

We are so thrilled to report that as of Monday, October 12th the twins are finally legally free for us to adopt and we have started the adoption paperwork process. Our adoption home study has been updated and as soon as our adoption case worker gets back from her Hawaii vacation we will complete the "disclosure" paperwork (this is basically just saying we know their background and yes we want to move forward with the adoption). Once that paperwork is completed it will be submitted to the regional office for processing which takes about 3 - 4 weeks. It will then be sent to our attorney who will finalize all of our paperwork and set the court date. We are hoping to be able to wrap everything up by the end of the year but it may slip in to January. Either way - we are well on our way to becoming a "Forever Family"

Sam took his first steps to me on Mother's day and hasn't stopped since! Sydney has been a bit slower to walk but started about a month ago now and is cruising around at a pretty good clip already. She has had some gross motor skill delays but has Occupational Therapy every other week here at home. We have seen a lot of progress in a short amount of time!

They are saying several words now and know several signs - they can sign "more", "thank you", "please", "water, Please", "dog", "all done" and Sam signs "shoes". They say Mama, Dada, baby, Bobpa, Nana and shoe and others. They love to read books - Sam is especially fond of reading to anyone who will listen. They are learning some animal sounds - "ruff ruff" and "meow" are the current favorites. They are also quite eager to point out their nose, eyes, mouth, hair, and especially belly buttons! Another favorite activity is tickling - not only do they like to tickle Mommy and Daddy - they will tickle themselves and crack up laughing.

They have also really started to play together quite a bit - especially peek-a-boo! It is pretty funny to watch them crack each other up. Tonight we had some music playing and Sam went over to Sydney and took both of her hands and started dancing with her - sure wish I had been fast enough to get a video of that!

Here is a photo album with a taste of what we've been up to for the last 6 months. I will try very hard to not let so much time go by before the next post.

Click here to view these pictures larger

At Long Last - warning mega-post

noreply@blogger.com (Darin, Jean, Samson & Sydney) — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 05:05:00 +0000

Finally a post....with lots of pictures! We've been pretty busy around here with the babies gaining mobility rapidly. They aren't quite walking yet but they are definitely getting around - and FAST!!

Things are progressing with their case and the state is changing their official plan to "adoption". That change will go before the judge on May 6th but is expected to be approved. The process for adoption will still take several more months but we have been encouraged to begin calling them the names we have chosen for them. Drum roll please......

Samson Robert Elijah and Sydney Anna Peytine are their names. We call them Sam & Sydney (or Sam-Sam & Syd-girl!)

So - I haven't posted for so long so this goes clear back to early February. We had 5 month old Akeshia with us for 2 nights while her foster mom attended a class.

Trying to fill Dad's shoes:

One of my favorite pictures - a Sunday afternoon in early February. Darin, our niece Leah with Sydney and our nanny Chelsey with Sam having an afternoon nap:

Sam being extra cool:

And Sydney with her sweet smile and cowgirl hat!!:

A playdate with our friend Hannah who was born the same day as the twins!

Reading bed-time stories with Auntie Suzette:

Sam helping Daddy build a fire:

Visiting Mommy's best friends from HS - Jill & Kari on March 9th (yes, they are twins too!!). It was so fun to spend time with them - the first time in MANY years to just hang out and visit.

March 20th - riding around in a box:

We stayed in a hotel for 5 days during our bathroom remodel (will do a separate post on that once it is completely finished - hopefully will be done this week). We used our moby wrap to tie the twins into a chair for feeding:

The hotel stay was quite an experience - our niece Leah was with us as well as our nanny Chelsey. Sydney found a piece of a snickers bar and had consumed most of it before we noticed what she was up to:

Cousin/Niece Leah feeding both babies at the same time in the hotel:

Here we are back home again wearing our jammies from Nana Shirley:

Sydney with Auntie Bonnita on Easter with her pig tails:

Our little family with Lily the lamb at Uncle Jeff & Auntie Bonnita's place on Easter:

Sydney & Lily:

Sydney & Sam with Lily:

April 16th - our first swimming experience - WE LOVED IT!! Sydney and Chelsey on the left and Sam & Mommy on the right:

Shopping at Fred Meyer:

Playing with our favorite toy in our new diaper covers:

Not quite sure what's so funny but something is absolutely hilarious!!

Sam's first haircut

Sydney fell asleep eating breakfast one morning - nice post-pony tail hair!

And just taken today - Sam & Daddy standing in the doorway:

Handmade surprise

noreply@blogger.com (Darin, Jean, Samson & Sydney) — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 23:26:00 +0000

I managed to be the 5th person that left a comment on my friend Jo's block which means I get something fun made by her. The catch is that I have to post this on my blog too....and, just like Jo - have been wanting to "make something" so, here's my chance to do it and be held accountable!!

Lucky you! The first five people to respond to this post will get something made by me! My choice. For you. This offer does have some restrictions and limitations:

1- I make no guarantees that you will like what I make!

2- What I create will be just for you.

3- It'll be done this year. (might be a little while)

4- You have no clue what it's going to be. It may be a story. It may be poetry or an article on properly cleaning your face before a masque. I may draw or paint something. I may bake you something and mail it to you. Who knows? Not you, that's for sure!

5- I reserve the right to do something extremely strange.The catch? Oh, the catch is that you must repost this on your blog and offer the same to the first 5 people who do the same on your blog.

The first 5 people to do so and leave a comment telling me they did win a FAB-U-LOUS homemade gift by me! Oh, and be sure to post a picture of what you win when you get it!

So....who will be the first 5 people?????

Valentine's Day Cards for Kids

noreply@blogger.com (Darin, Jean, Samson & Sydney) — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 16:54:00 +0000

I saw an article on CNN about this...you can buy valentine's day cards for your kids that go to provide support to children living in poverty in the United States. Not only is it a good cause - the cards are really adorable.

You can find the cards here.

Pillow Fight and More

noreply@blogger.com (Darin, Jean, Samson & Sydney) — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 04:26:00 +0000

I think the twins have been EXTRA cute lately! So - here's a few more photos.

They both fell asleep on our bed after their morning feeding. When I went in to get them after they woke up - this is what I found. The pics don't show it very well but Peytine was getting in a few licks of her own. Of course they weren't really hitting each other but the back and forth action was pretty funny.

PILLOW FIGHT!

Here are their new shirts from Auntie Kristi - notice that Elijah now has 4 teeth with another one coming in. Poor baby has been getting one tooth after another. Peytine still only has two on the bottom but is working on getting some on the top too.

A few developmental progress notes: We have been teething times two at our house since just before Thanksgiving. They got their first two teeth in succession one day apart for each baby and each tooth one week apart. Elijah has been popping out teeth one after the other ever since but Peytine so far just swells up, her cheeks get hot and red and she drools copiously - no more teeth yet. They are both sitting up on their own with minimal intervention. They are very actively rolling around on the floor and will roll to get a toy that they want to play with. They are showing signs of crawling soon and can both "walk" when you hold their little hands. They make lots of fun sounds including ma-ma-ma and da-da-da. Elijah's sounds are a little clearer than Peytines but she is catching up. Peytine waved "bye-bye" for the first time last week and has been very interested in waving at her self - having just discovered that the hand belongs to her! She is also trying very hard to hold her own bottle - Elijah would much rather lay back and have someone hold it for him. It is so fun to watch their personalities. They really adore each other too and entertain and laugh at each other on a regular basis. We also still catch them holding hands in their crib. They are growing and changing every day and bring such joy to us.

On the legal front: the next court hearing is February 9th. The official state plan is still "return home" to their biological mom - basically they have to have that on the paperwork for a certain amount of time unless the commissioner/judge decides she doesn't get any more chances. She has been showing up for the one hour visits with them every week but has not engaged in any of the other services she has been court ordered to do. We are still waiting to find out about paternity - in typical state agency fashion, the child suppport enforcement agency won't allow the Department of Child and Family Services (DCFS) to have the information from the paternity test without a court order. Even if the bio-Dad is identified and doesn't engage in services, the State is required to try and find any family members of his that may be interested. So - it's a wait and see game but we are hoping to know something more definitive before the end of the year. By law the state is supposed to have a permanency plan in place by the time they have been in state custody for a year which will be the middle of September. It could still be several more months after that before an adoption is final even if the plan at that time is for us to adopt them. We are of course hoping for a speedier resolution than that but are just trying to be patient for now and enjoy the babies. Patience may be difficult but enjoying them is easy!

Happy Sunday!

noreply@blogger.com (Darin, Jean, Samson & Sydney) — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 04:23:00 +0000

We took a "few" very cute photos of the babies today and just had to share!

Twins all dressed up:

Uh-Oh, Mommy caught us taking off a shoe!

Here's one each of me with my little man and little miss:

Elijah hamming it up for the camera:

Jammy time (thanks to our friends Garry & Nancy for the cute PJ's):

Auntie Kristi comes for a visit and more

noreply@blogger.com (Darin, Jean, Samson & Sydney) — Sun, 25 Jan 2009 05:22:00 +0000

Warning - this will likely be a "MEGA-POST"! Sorry it's been so long since we've posted - things have been a little busy around here. Dad/Bobpa came for a visit for a few days for a follow up with his oncologist at Virgina Mason. He had the wonderful news of a clean report and doesn't have to come back for 12 months!!!

This week we had a visit from Kristi G all the way from Sioux Falls, SD. Kristi was my maid of honor from our wedding and my "sister"...we both have 4 brothers and no sisters and ever since we worked together at the Corvallis Gazette Times (Corvallis, OR) we have claimed each other as sisters. The funny part is that people always think we are sisters anyway so it just makes it easier to answer the "is this your sister?" question with a YES!

The twins are growing and progressing by leaps and bounds. They are super funny and cute. Here is a video of the two of them in their exersaucers - Peytine apparently thinks Elijah is the funniest thing on the planet.

Bobpa and Peytine:

Elijah:

Peytine:

Auntie Kristi and the twins:

Auntie Kristi and Watson (who was VERY happy for all of the extra attention!)

Bath Time!!

New High Chairs (They LOVE them and so do we...feeding time is soooo much easier and the high chairs fold up to 7.5 inches wide for quick easy storage...happiness all around!).

Auntie Kristi left to go back home today so we were all feeling sad. To lighten the atmosphere a little Darin was playing peek-a-boo etc with the babies. Elijah was totally in to it and Peytine couldn't have been less interested. Here is a video clip of the fun:

And one last picture for good measure...Elijah was feeling VERY snuggly one afternoon:

Can you believe that January is ALMOST over already???? Yikes!!

Happy New Year

noreply@blogger.com (Darin, Jean, Samson & Sydney) — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 04:17:00 +0000

A Very Happy New Year to everyone!

Just when all of our snow had finally melted away (actually - we still had a small pile at the end of the driveway) we had another small snow storm last night and got about 5 inches! It is mostly melted away already thankfully and we are supposed to have rain for the next several days - much more normal northwest weather!

Leah and Chelsea came and spent a few days with us between Christmas and New Years. They were a FABULOUS help with the babies! Here is a photo of them busy with their other favorite pastime.

One morning we decided to feed the babies with just their diapers on in an effort to conserve on laundry....it was still a mess especially when they decided to fight over the newspaper! Here are a few pics of their first newspaper "reading".

We had a wonderful New Year's Eve celebration at Suzette's place .... unfortunately I was lame and didn't take any photos. Peytine was awake to ring in the New Year with an upset tummy and Elijah woke up with the fire works so we started off the year consoling tired, crying babies - but otherwise had a really great time with Reece and Linda, Suzette, Dave & Sheryl and all of the kiddos. We slept in on New Year's day (or at least I did - thanks Darin!) and spent a nice relaxed day hanging out with Suzette in front of the fire.

Then to top it all off - Saturday, Darin let me sleep until 10:30 AM. It was SOOOOOO wonderful!!

I went back to work today - it was actually kind of nice to be back in the groove of having a schedule again.

Happy Holidays

noreply@blogger.com (Darin, Jean, Samson & Sydney) — Sat, 27 Dec 2008 22:45:00 +0000

We had a wonderful Christmas here at home with our little bundles, friends and neighbors. Christmas Eve, Auntie Suzette spent the night with us after braving the elements to get across on the ferry from Seattle. Thanks to her neighbor Becky for taking her to the ferry on that side and our neighbor James for picking her up on this side. The babies fell asleep about 15 minutes before I was due downtown to pick her up and James graciously agreed to make the run for me. Here is a photo of Auntie Suzette and Peytine on Christmas Eve:

Darin read "Night Before Christmas" to the twins that night - here is a photo and a video clip of that cute event:

Christmas morning we had the "overnight coffee cake" for breakfast that Darin had mixed up the night before and then the adults opened our stockings. After the babies got up we fed them breakfast and then set them on the couch to open their stockings. Here they are - of course first the stockings went in their mouths and then everything in them. Here are a few photos:

The two little huskies (photo taken earlier in the week wearing the outfits from Uncle Jeff & Auntie Bonnita) each got a University of Washington hard board book in their stocking. Elijah's is titled "Little Husky's first football game" in which the little huskies beat the little cougars OF COURSE! Peytine's book is "University of Washgington 101" and includes everything a baby needs to know about going to college at the UW (Mommy's alma mater)!!

Christmas afternoon our neighbors Keith and Jessie and Keith's brother Talon, Jean's old friend from Seattle college days and our neighbor down the street Beth, and Suzette all shared dinner with us. We enjoyed good food and good company and finished it off with a raspberry trifle for desert.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all of you. We love it when you post comments so we know you are out there keeping tabs on us!

Darin, Jean and the Twins

Let it Snow!

noreply@blogger.com (Darin, Jean, Samson & Sydney) — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 08:52:00 +0000

I've lived in Washington 34 of my 38 years and don't remember seeing this much snow on the west side of the state EVER! (I'm told that there was more than this once when I was a toddler but that was a long time ago!) We've had snow on the ground for 10+ days now - very unusual for these parts.

Here are some photos of the fun:

Our house with the snowman Darin built for us:

Our gate & fence - I love how the snow piled up:

Our Street - we got 6 - 8 more inches after this photo was taken:

Family - Thanks Keith and Jessie for being our photographers!

Mommy & Babies:

Not snow pics but had to share...

Daddy & Peytine - Thanks Auntie Megan for the cute outfit!

Watson and Elijah hanging out:

FINALLY - an update

noreply@blogger.com (Darin, Jean, Samson & Sydney) — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 03:28:00 +0000

Hello!

Oops - I didn't quite make my promise last week but better late than never right?? And now you will just have to endure a REALLY long post with LOTS of pictures!

The twins are doing great! They really are the cutest babies in the world but then again, I might be slightly biased.

So - here are some pics of the goings on around here...

Kind of embarrasing to be posting Halloween photos in December but here they are...we had two little pumpkins - Thanks to Darin's cousin Sherri for taking the photos!:

Mommy & Elijah:

Peytine:

Here are more pictures from the photo session with Sherri - I LOVE this series and have named it "The Secret"...these are now printed and hanging on the wall in our living room:

The Pumpkins also attended our niece Leah's 18th birthday party on Halloween (actual birthday was the day before). We had dinner at Ivar's on the Seattle waterfront. Here are some pics from that:

Peytine with the birthday girl:

Logan and Elijah:

Tough guy Tyler and Elijah:

Tyson and Elijah:

Darin got the door installed in our bedroom. It replaced a window and makes a HUGE difference in the whole room. It is a "full light" door so we have a nice view of the back yard and what will be a deck sometime in the spring. Here is Darin caulking in the trim with Elijah in the ergo carrier:

After all of their hard work the boys had to take a nap (actually I have to confess it was not the same day but it makes a good story doesn't it?!)

We also attended Leah's final cross country meet of her high school career - she got her season best time!! Congratulations Leah.

The next big adventure was spending the entire week of Thanksgiving in Spokane/N Idaho. Bobpa ended up in the hospital for 3 days to get his dialysis started - he'll be on dialysis 3 day's/week for 4 hours each from hear on out. The good news is that he is feeling SO much better after two weeks of the treatments that he is raring to "get out and do things". Here are the kiddos visiting him in the hospital. They made quite an impression with the staff and other hospital visitors...at one point we had at least 10 people gathered around their stroller in the hospital lobby. We spent several nights at Uncle Tim & Auntie Megan's. Somehow all of the pictures that got taken must be on their camera and not mine...we had an absolutely wonderful time with them.

Bobpa & Elijah:

Bobpa & Peytine:

We also spent a FABULOUS evening at Lisa's place playing with all the kids. You can see photos of that fun time here

Next we went up to Grandma Rosie's for the actual Thanksgiving - the food was great, the company excellent and the babies were completely spoiled by everyone!

Here are 3 cooks in the kitchen:

Uncle Tim & Elijah reading a story:

The table with all of the yummy food!!

From Rosalyn's we went to my Aunt Karen & Uncle Bill's in Spokane where 31 members of my family had spent the day. We spend Thursday evening and all day Friday with the group. It was such a great time with so many members of my extended family. Friday we had an entire day of Norwegian food while kids (and some adults) came in and out of the house to warm up in between 4-wheeler rides.

This is Peytine & Elijah with their cousin Luke (John & Carmen's youngest):

Here are all of the "little" kids...we kind of have two separate groupings of the cousins children. One of teens to twenty somethings and one of babies to 10 or so.

Here is a picture of Kim and her girls (Emily & Katie):

Here is Peytine with the "girl" cousins:

No Thanksgiving family gathering would be complete without singing a few Christmas Carols around the piano:

Saturday morning before heading back over the mountains to the homestead, we spent some time with our friends Scott & Kelly and their amazingly cool family. They have 14 kids. Scott & Kelly have adopted the 12 youngest and they have two adult daughters from Scott's first marriage. Unimaginably, the level of chaos in their house with 12 kids all under the age of 14 is pretty on par with our house on any given morning with just two. I really have no idea how they do it but the kids are happy, well adjusted and BEAUTIFUL.

Here is a photo of our two with their 12 (Left to right: Carter, William, Kiki, Zella (holding Peytine), Emma (holding Elijah who you can't really see), Malachi, Bektu, Adacia, Wyatt, Ginny, Selena, Koby

Here is Scott with Kiki (holding Peytine) on the right, Bektu on the far left and Adacia on the near left.

And here is my wonderful friend Kelly with her youngest boy William (Kelly and I used to work together at the Nextlink Spokane office and have stayed in touch ever since)

If you want to read more about the adventures with their family you can check out their blog here.

Other happenings....

During our week in Spokane we had some family photos taken with Lori Brown at Mystique Photography. We have worked with Laurie previously and took advantage of being in town to have her do a photo shoot with the twins. These are their 6 month photos and 10 year anniversary photos for Darin and I. We are having a dickens of a time choosing which photos to order. So - if you have some extra time and want to take a look check out the photos here and post a note to tell us which ones are your favorite.

Finally - last Sunday my siblings and I had the great pleasure of hosting a 50th Wedding Anniversary Celebration for my parents. So many of their old friends and many of our family members made it to the reception (in Snohomish). It was a really lovely time for all of us. What a wonderful gift to have them both still with us (in spite of all Dad's health problems) and to have their example of learning to love each other beyond human annoyances and failings. I didn't have time to take a lot of pictures during the reception but would love to have some from those of you who attended took. Thanks to each of you who were able to make it from near and far and to those of you who were there in spirit.

Here is Mom and Dad starting out the food line - don't they look great?!:

Mom & Dad and all the kids (from left to right - Stan, John, Dad, Mom, Jeff, Jean, Scott):

Luke & Elijah in their matching outfits:

Laurie N, Mom & Julie Y - Mom worked with these two lovely ladies at the Marysville School district many moons ago. I was a candle lighter in Laurie and Dave's wedding when I was 11. I think it was my first long dress I ever had and I LOVED IT. If I remember correctly it was light yellow eyelet material.

Oh - and one more picture - I snapped this of the babies this evening sitting in their little booster seats on the bed in my office. Aren't they just the sweetest little cuties ever??!!

Sorry for the long absence

noreply@blogger.com (Darin, Jean, Samson & Sydney) — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 03:33:00 +0000

Hi there - so sorry for the long absence from the blogosphere! We've been a tad busy around here (hard to imagine I'm sure!). I do hereby solemnly swear to post some photos of the last month with our two little munchkins THIS WEEK.

Also, for some reason, my notification of comments posted wasn't working properly so I just discovered SEVERAL from the last 6 weeks that I hadn't read previously. Thanks to all of you for the notes of encouragement and support.

So...stay tuned for more in the next few days.

D, J & The Twins

Weekend Visit to Spokane & Sandpoint

noreply@blogger.com (Darin, Jean, Samson & Sydney) — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 22:53:00 +0000

We had a really great weekend visiting friends and family on the "other side" of the mountains. Last Thursday we drove over to Spokane and spent the night at Tim & Megan's. Friday we had a nice relaxed morning with Auntie Megan and then stopped by the Spokane XO office to visit my co-workers there. From there we went to John & Carmen's to meet Mr. Luke (and visit the rest of the family). He is a darling baby and so quiet compared to our two wiggle worms!

Friday evening we had a delightful dinner and visit with Doug, Debbie, Connor, Nathan and Debbie's cousin Brenda. It was so fun to catch up with them again - it had been far too long since we spent any time together.

Friday and Saturday nights we spent with Grandma Rosie near Sandpoint and Saturday for lunch we went to Sandra, Alberto & Gene's place for a WONDERFUL REAL ITALIAN lunch. For those of you who don't know...Sandra was raised here but lived in Italy for many years. She and her husband Alberto moved to the US 6 or 7 years ago to be near her mother Gene. The babies got cooed over in Italian and renamed! That's right - some American sounds/names are too hard for Alberto so Elijah was given the Italian pronunciation (El - ee - ah) which we both quite like and Peytine Melody-Ann was called Anna (ahh-na).

Sunday we had lunch at Stan's new place in Couer d'Alene - he has it fixed up really nice even though he's only been there for 3 weeks and let me tell you the steak he fixed was FABULOUS!

I should just say right up front that I didn't do a great job as a photojournalist of our weekend...I got a few pictures but not nearly enough. So here are the pictures I have and hopefully will get a few more from Uncle Tim & Auntie Megan since they took several while we were at their place.

Here is Mr. Luke ... looking so adorable sitting on Mommy's lap.

Caelyn holding Peytine:

Carlee holding Elijah:

Thing 1 & Thing 2 at Doug & Debbie's place:

Grandma Rosie has her arms full:

Sandra & Alberto with El-ee-ah and Anna:

Elijah looked so cute in both of these that I just couldn't resist putting them both in:

Oh - and to make things a little more interesting, we brought a new kitty over for Grandma Rosie. Her name is Sweat Pea and she is settling in quite nicely!:

And for those of you who wonder how I work with two babies at home:

(Actually, I have to confess, the real answer to how I do it is our neighbor Kay! I'll try to snag a picture of her and the babies soon.)

Here is one final picture - not from the weekend but I just found it on my cell phone and thought it needed to be posted. This is Uncle Todd holding Peytine at Aunt Velma's.

Nana & Bobpa visit etc

noreply@blogger.com (Darin, Jean, Samson & Sydney) — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 20:36:00 +0000

Jean's parents Bob & Shirley (aka Bobpa and Nana) visited Sunday through Tuesday. Here are a few photos of their time with us.

Glen & Hazel came for dinner:

Aunt Velma with Elijah:

Aunt Velma with Peytine:

This weekend we are off to meet our new nephew Luke and introduce Elijah & Peytine to lots of other family members: Uncle John & Auntie Carmen, cousins Caelyn, Carlee and Luke; Auntie Megan and Uncle Tim, Grandma Rosie and Uncle Stan. We also hope to see Auntie Lisa and cousins Johanna, Tati and Rogerio.

More Pictures & Garage Sale update

noreply@blogger.com (Darin, Jean, Samson & Sydney) — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 22:14:00 +0000

Adoption Fundraiser Garage Sale Update:

Several have asked how the big Garage sale went so we wanted to let you know that it went really well. We sold probably 70% of what we had and the rest was donated to Goodwill. We had a few items that we kept after the sale to sell on Craigslist and between those and the garage sale day we made right about $600. Thanks again so much to those who donated to the cause: Garry & Nancy, Tim & Megan, DeAnna & Bob, Jen & Adrian, James & Tamara and special thanks to neighbors Tamara and Kay for helping with pricing and to Kay who helped ALL DAY on Saturday. We appreciate all of you.

In other news...from my previous post you know that we have a new nephew - Luke Andrew. Here are a couple of pictures of Luke and his big sisters Caelyn & Carlee. We are looking forward to meeting Luke and seeing the rest of the family in a couple of weeks.

We've been busy with the camera around here too...such great subjects! Here are a few pictures of Peytine and Elijah from the last week.

In their new outfits on Sunday:

arm in arm in their crib:

Happy at Bedtime:

Holding hands:

With cousin Leah who came to visit over the weekend:

Leah and Elijah napping:

Turn that frown:

Upside down:

Elijah & Peytine

noreply@blogger.com (Darin, Jean, Samson & Sydney) — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 22:11:00 +0000

Here are a few pictures of the babies from this week. They are such good babies - rarely fuss and very smiley and happy most of the time.

Peytine on the left and Elijah on the right:

Peytine Cutie Pie:

Happy Boy:

Watson the crib guard:

Melanie & Alexia come for a visit:

In other news...they both slept through their first wednesday night bible study...it was so fabulous!!

Surprise Babies

noreply@blogger.com (Darin, Jean, Samson & Sydney) — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 05:04:00 +0000

Darin and I have decided to become foster parents again...today 4 month old boy/girl twins were placed with us. This is a "long term" foster placement. There is some possibility that these babies will become available for adoption but for now, for our own sanity, we are viewing this as a foster placement only.

The babies names are Peytine (girl - pronounced Pay-ton) and Elijah (boy). They were born May 7th of this year so are almost 5 months old. They were born premature at almost 35 weeks and are very healthy and developmentally on target but a little small compared to a full term 5 month old.

We found a zip lock bag with several professionally taken photos of the babies in their diaper bag so it's nice to have a pictoral history of them. I scanned in a few of the photos for your viewing pleasure. Also - we took a few pictures tonight and they are below as well.

We'll share more as things progress but wanted to get this update out tonight for those of you that are anxiously awaiting pictures.

They are fairly close to newborn in this photo:

Here is Elijah:

And Peytine:

These are fairly recent pictures of the two of them together:

Here is a picture of Darin and Elijah in one of those happy full baby tummy moments!

Here is Peytine after she finally fell asleep in the Moby Wrap:

And here is one of me with both of them - you can tell that Elijah is a bit bigger than Peytine:

Garage Sale

noreply@blogger.com (Darin, Jean, Samson & Sydney) — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 18:59:00 +0000

You might have guessed from the last post that our Adoption Fundraiser garage sale originally scheduled for 9/20 has been postponed.

Our garage sale will be Saturday 9/27 from 9 AM - 4 PM.

We are definitely still accepting donations to the cause!!

Lemonade

noreply@blogger.com (Darin, Jean, Samson & Sydney) — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 04:22:00 +0000

Sometimes life gives you lemons but what I've learned is that they make the sweetest lemonade if you can find the courage to squeeze the sweetness out of the experience.

My dear cousin Christina passed away on Friday after a very courageous 2 and a half year battle with cancer. She was only 24. In spite of what might seem like a tragedy of a life cut short, she was an amazing example to all of us. Her spirit of acceptance was really remarkable - she definitely made lemonade out of the lemons she was handed and was a beautiful person inside and out. We will miss her but our lives have been enrinched by having seen her sweet smile and the sparkle in her eyes, for having felt her kind, courageous spirit and known the warmth of her love. Please keep her sweet husband Kerry and her family in your thoughts and prayers.

Here is a photo of Kerry & Christina and their dogs from their Christmas card last year.

I received the news of her death on my way to Seattle on Friday to participate in the Alex's Lemonade Stand cancer fundraiser that my company does every year. This year we lucked out and our Seattle office was able to put up our stand in front of Whole Foods on Westlake Avenue. They donated Organic Lemonade for us and gave us a great location. Alex's Lemonade Stand is a non-profit organization that raises money to fight childhood cancers. Alex was a little girl that was diagnosed with cancer at the age of 4 and decided to have a lemonade stand to raise money to find a cure for cancer. Before she died at the age of 8 she had raised over $1 million with her lemonade stand. You can donate to our team's fundraising effort at this link. Our goal is to raise $4000 - so far we are just over the $1000 mark with over $600 of that made on Friday selling lemonade.

Our team was very moved by the news of Christina's passing that very morning and everyone inspired to dedicate our efforts that day to Christina. Thanks Seattle XO team - your extra efforts were definitely noticed.

This year Darin built us a stand to use - it turned out great! The best part is it breaks down and is easily storable so we can use it every year when we do our fundraiser.

Here is a photo of our stand with some of the Seattle XO office team.

So - when life hands you lemons...make lemonade.

Introducing....

noreply@blogger.com (Darin, Jean, Samson & Sydney) — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 18:04:00 +0000

Our new nephew Luke Andrew. He was born late last night. He weighed 8lbs 11oz and was 20.5 inches long.

Congratulations John & Carmen and big sisters Caelyn & Carlee. Carmen & Luke are both doing well and plan to go home today after lunch.

September Already

noreply@blogger.com (Darin, Jean, Samson & Sydney) — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 19:58:00 +0000

I really can't believe it is already September! Most schools have started (except some Universities) and fall is in the air!

We had another busy but very fun weekend.

Friday evening we went to Seattle and visited my friend Laura at her "homestead". She and her husband Francis have a fabulous place in Burien with lovely gardens including a "secret" one! They also have an adorable Pug named Yolanda and a super cool kitty (asian shorthair) named Sushi. It was very fun to see their place and hang out. From there we stopped in on our old neighbors Jeff & Sam at their place in Des Moines. Their kids Izzy & Beck are getting so big and definitely kept us entertained. Isabella had a big breakdown because she couldn't come home with us that night for a sleep over but we've promised that she can come over soon!!

Darin borrowed the panel van from work so we could make a dump run on Saturday - I'm so happy to get that 320lbs of garbage (carpet & pad from the basement etc) out of here. He also used it to transport the door for our master bedroom down to the shop so that he can build a frame and sidelight for it. YEAH!!

Saturday (after the dump run) we worked on cleaning up in the garage. Before we bought the house, the previous owners had a french drain put in all the way around the house including inside the garage (then carport). That meant cutting out about 3 feet of concrete all at the edge of the garage next to the house and leaving a pile of dirt/gravel behind. Well - we finally got that all taken care of and filled in with pavers and it makes such a HUGE difference (pics below).

Garage sale donations have been rolling in! Special thanks to our neighbors James & Tamara (lucky for us, our sale is coinciding with their organizing/sorting activity), Garry & Nancy, Tim & Megan and Laura & Francis. Look at this pile of stuff! We also have a growing pile in our own basement from our own "sorting" efforts.

Sunday at lunch we met 3 of my Fred Meyer co-workers for lunch. For those of you who don't know this - I worked for Fred Meyer my senior year of high school and all 5 years of college. I made some dear friends in those 5 years at the Broadway Fred Meyer on Capital Hill in Seattle. Shortly after we moved to Bremerton I was trying on "undergarments" at the Macy's in Silverdale and the recognized the voice of the woman that came to the door to ask if I needed any assistance. It was Beth - who I had worked with at Freddy's all those years ago. Come to find out Beth is our neighbor - just down the road. Well through this connection with Beth I was also able to get back in touch with Randall and Tobi. The two of them came over from Seattle and met Beth & Darin and I for lunch at Anthony's. It was so much fun to see them. Tobi and I not only worked together but lived in the same apartment building and attended the UW. It was so neat to see pictures of her kids - they are 10 & 9 (last time I saw her she had just found out she was expecting the oldest one). I am just so happy to have re-made these connections. Randall also attended the UW at the same time and now works in International store development for Starbucks. Good Luck with the London opportunity Randall - we'd love to come for a visit! So thanks again Randall and Tobi for driving over here and making the time to get back in touch and for Beth for making the connection. Here are a couple of photos of the 4 of us. Also - special thanks to Darin for patiently listening to the four of us talk for several hours about people he doesn't know and for being the official photographer! From left to right on the top photo is Tobi, Jean, Beth & Randall.

And - just for good measure - here's a photo of Watson the lap dog!

Busy Weekend

noreply@blogger.com (Darin, Jean, Samson & Sydney) — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 21:18:00 +0000

In keeping with our “never a dull moment” theme…we had another busy weekend around here!

More Water Damage:
Last week we had a major rain storm (more rain in one day than we usually get all month). Toward the end of the week Darin went downstairs to get something and noticed that the tack strip in the hall way (where the carpet has been removed from the May bathroom flood) was wet. Mind you, this tack strip can only get wet from the other side of the wall….so it was not a good omen. Apparently we had managed to leave the window open in our guest room and the big rain just came right in! Our gutters were actually totally overwhelmed by the rain and we had sheets of water coming down all the way around the house during the storm. So, those sheets of water plus the overflow from the downspout on the corner adjacent to the window well managed to find their way into the bedroom. The carpet was soaked, piles of dirt and debris etc. So, Friday afternoon we pulled the carpet and will likely end up removing most of the wall board etc in that room to prevent any possible mold problems.

Darin found a really cool set up at Lowe’s for re-routing downspout water and got that installed though and got the gutters cleaned out. So – barring further torrential rains with downstairs windows left open that should take care of the most obvious source of water in to the basement. Of course we were expecting company for the weekend so since the damaged room was our only guest room at the moment we had to do some quick swapping around and empty the other bedroom aka “temporary storage room” and make it into a guest space again.

Blackberry Festival and Darin’s big race!
This weekend was the local Bremerton Blackberry Festival and Saturday morning Darin ran the 5K race. This was his first race since grade school field days and he managed to run the entire thing without stopping to walk once! He reports that this is the longest distance he has ever run without stopping so I am SO proud of him.

Here he is with his race number.

And, lap 2 (it is a one mile course that you run 3 laps of)

This is the video of Darin at the finish…I apparently have to buy an upgraded version of Quicktime video in order to rotate this video…very annoying but I had to include it anyway.

The local Navy Chief Petty Officers (150 – 200 of them) run the race in formation so that was also fun to see. They started after all of the other runners.

After the race we went to the festival and listened to the Smiling Scandinavians play polka music while we ate Swedish Meat balls, blackberry pie and blackberry ice-cream. YUMMM. All of the blackberry products (scones, blackberry filled doughnuts etc) are the best part of this festival. Saturday night we went back and watched Kelly Thibodeaux and Etouffe play some Louisiana “Swamp Rock” (and we shared a blackberry scone topped with whipped cream and blackberry syrup).

Watson Runs away again!
Sunday evening just after Tim & Megan (on their way from Spokane) called to tell us they were in Gig Harbor we discovered that Watson was missing. He apparently got out while Darin was unloading some stuff into the Garage. Darin jumped in his car and headed up the hill and our neighbors Keith & Jessie headed the other direction while I stayed at home in case we got a call (he is tagged now!).

Fortunately, Darin found him just about ½ a mile away laying along side the road. Unfortunately, he had eaten/rolled in something extremely dead, stinky and vulgar. However, he was home, safe and banned to the backyard for the evening.

Company:
Tim & Megan arrived from Spokane about 5:45 and Todd joined us for dinner at the boat shed. After dinner we all went to visit Aunt Velma. She seemed VERY glad for the company and we managed to get the photo below of Aunt Velma, Todd, Megan and Darin.

Monday we cooked breakfast at home and Tim, Megan and Darin headed south to Gig Harbor so Darin could give them a tour of the RCD shop. It was really nice to have Tim & Megan here – it had been almost a year since they visited last.

Watson Seizures:
About an hour after Darin had left for Gig Harbor, I was in my office researching a project online and heard a bunch of activity in the living room – it sounded like Watson was playing with something but wasn’t quite right. So, I called him to come and he came jerking down the hall – almost like he was startling over something. He went jerking past me into the laundry room and stopped and looked at me but didn’t seem like he could make his legs move to come toward me. I finally got him to come down the hall into the living room and called Darin to come home. I then called our wonderful neighbor Jessie to come and be with me and she came right over.

We sat on the floor with Watson for about an hour and tried to keep him calm while he twitched and jerked. I was certain this was the beginning of the end for him and that the cancer had spread to his brain. There was even a couple of times where his breathing slowed and his eyes closed that we weren’t sure if he was just resting or on his way out. Then, just before Darin got home Watson jumped up (prior to this we didn’t even know if he would be able to get up again) and went back to the laundry room and basically begged for food. I gave him a couple of kibbles to make sure he wouldn’t choke and then ended up giving him two scoops of food. This seemed to slow the spasms some but after he was done eating and headed back down the hall he had a spasm that took him all the way to the floor. Jessie and I got him to his bed and were just sitting down next to him when Darin arrived home. Watson got up again (spasms still coming less frequently than before the food) and went outside and begged to have the ball thrown. We decided that even if he was dying that he would die happy if we threw the ball for him so did that for a bit before forcing him to stop and go back in the house.

About ½ an hour later the spasms increased in frequency and severity again so we decided to take him in to the vet. They actually thought that he might have been poisoned from whatever he ate on his run-away adventure and did lab work etc. Fortunately, his liver and kidney function are just fine so they don’t really know what caused the seizures/spasms and by the time we got all of the lab results they had stopped. They sent us home with a muscle relaxant and anti-anxiety medication as well as an anti-seizure med in case they got really bad but he hasn’t had any problems since. So – it could be the progression of the cancer or could have been just something he ate that tweaked his central nervous system for a while. In either case, he’s home and doing fine – although he did seem extra tired last night and pretty much slept the entire evening.

Baby Nephew on the Way!
We have a new nephew due on Thursday of this week so yesterday evening after all of the dog excitement, I managed to design and make a little bunting for him that he can wear in his car seat this winter. (Picture below). I also stitched some ribbon to several cotton diapers to be used for burp cloths. If this is John or Carmen reading the blog you have to hide your eyes and not look at the pictures below until you get your package in the mail! I haven’t pressed out the seams yet so it looks a little funky around the edges but you can get the general idea. I modeled this sizing after a 3-6 month size sack gown so I hope it fits him at least most of the winter.

USS Kitty Hawk:
This aircraft carrier came in to Bremerton this morning through the channel just a block from our house. It came in for its decommissioning at the Bremerton Naval Shipyard. I got down to the park just as it came around the corner and managed to capture a couple of pictures before starting my work day this morning. It was a pretty impressive sight gliding through the water – the group of us watching in the park were in a very quiet and somber mood as it went through. Here is the article from KOMO News.

So….that is the “quick” re-cap on our Labor Day weekend. It’s a good thing we had three days off work to take it all in!!

We are sending special thoughts to all of “our” kids – starting school today.

Adoption Fundraiser Garage Sale

noreply@blogger.com (Darin, Jean, Samson & Sydney) — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 21:52:00 +0000

We are having an adoption fundraiser garage sale on Saturday, September 20th from 9 AM - 4 PM. For those of you that live nearby this is a golden opportunity for you to get rid of some of the "stuff" you have been saving! We will gladly accept any donations you have of saleable items.

We wouldn't normally ask for assistance in our attempts to have a family however, our two failed adoption attempts have drained a chunk of our savings and we decided to try some creative fundraising techniques in the hopes of reducing the amount of time we have to wait before trying again. We need to have at least $10,000 set aside for legal costs and travel (in addition to the $12,000 we have already paid our adoption agency for their fees). Also, neither of us get paid leave for adoption so that adds to the savings needed if we want to have time off with any new additions. I know it seems like a lot of money but really, this is comparable to the costs for a hospital birth - it just isn't covered by health insurance!

We are also researching any possible adoption grants that we might be eligible for - the first one we tried turned us down unfortunately! Our goal is to be ready by the middle of October to give our adoption agency the green light to look for another placement.

We have appreciated so much all of the support and encouragement we have received from our friends and family on our adoption journey and will certainly keep posting updates as they come along.

20 year class reunion

noreply@blogger.com (Darin, Jean, Samson & Sydney) — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 19:08:00 +0000

Darin and I attended my 20 year High school (Marysville Pilchuck) reunion this weekend. Friday night there was a dinner at the Embassy Suites in Lynnwood and Saturday a (very small) picnic at a park in Everett.

I really enjoyed getting to see some of my classmates and find out about their lives in the last 20 years. The best part though was on Saturday when I got to see my best friends from high school - Jill & Kari. Here is a "then" and "now" photo of the three of us.

THEN: This one is from our Baccalaureate with Jill on the left and Kari on the right.

NOW: From the picnic on Saturday with the twins swapped (Kari on the left and Jill on the right).

Here are a couple more photos from the weekend.

This is the group photo from Friday night - lots of scary red eye but sort of impossible to correct with a group that big. This is less than 1/4 of my graduating class. I was really surprised at how many people still live in the local area (we got a class directory and close to 90% of people still live locally - disappointing that more of them didn't come but nice to see the ones that were there).

This is the very small group of classmates that showed up for the picnic - still was fun to visit with people.