Monday Musings – The Principle of Adoption

Some of you may know, and some of you may not know, that adoption has already played a significant role in our lives. Russ was adopted by his step father when his parents were married 20-something years ago. Russ and his older sister are children from his mother’s previous marriage. This picture is a picture of Vincente with Russ’ biological paternal grandmother. She’s a sweet lady, and lives close to us, and we are very happy to have her in our lives. Our kids love her and she has helped us out a lot.

Russ hasn’t had any contact with his biological father other than a few letters they exchanged while Russ was on his mission.

Most of you also know that we are in the process of getting our foster care license from the state of Utah, with the intention to adopt teens out of foster care. We would love to finalize our first adoption this year. We’ll see how things go.

Adoption is a gospel principle, and I am excited to be able to participate in this wonderful experience. We are all adopted into Heavenly Father’s family by obedience to His laws, and those who are not of the house of Israel can be adopted into the lineage of Abraham. Brigham Young said this about it, “They will be broken off from the wild olive tree, and be grafted into the good and tame olive tree, and will partake of its sap and fatness.” This is part of what I feel adoption is about – especially adoption out of foster care – it is taking those tender branches who have been  broken off and grafting them into your own tree to give them life. These teens, left broken from their family trees, must find a tree to be grafted in to, or they will most likely wither and dry out.

I just read an article by a mom who just adopted two teens out of foster care, and she said it this way:

I also didn't just adopt Aubrianna that day, I adopted more than that, I adopted her history, her culture, her ancestors. We are all linked. If you can picture the grafting of a healthy branch into a healthier tree, well, that's one way to look at it. But what I did, was to cut her family tree vertically down to include her roots and we are grafting that into the trunk of my tree. Her roots will mingle with mine and we will grow as a family - two families, to begin with....

I think that it’s important, also, to remember where these kids came from and include their roots, as well. This was beautifully put.

For those of you who may “worry” about us adopting teens out of foster care – I feel like it’s the most sacred work I could do. I am not naive in any way when it comes to fostering teens (trust me, the eight 4 hour long classes we have attended this month have done a lot to show me exactly how real and messy it can and most likely will be) – but just because something is hard, scary, or messy doesn’t mean it’s not worth doing – and someone has to do it.

Out of nearly 1300 licensed foster families in the state of Utah, only about 120 will accept teens. That’s less than 10%.

I feel like the Lord will give us strength to bring these children into our homes and into our lives and help us raise them. Of course they will still have their own accountability – but their chances of success in life are much higher if they have a safe place to screw up. If they can screw up in our home, instead of alone on the streets, we can lift them up off their knees, dust them off, give them a hug, and tell them to try again. Everyone needs a family, and who are we to be selfish with ours, and keep it to ourselves. We already want to share our family with all of our friends – everyone is family to us. These children are just unique in that they don’t have another family to belong to. We are that family.

Rolling Along

We bought Vincente a “big kid bike” with training wheels for his 3rd birthday. We haven’t really lived in one place long enough for him to ride it a lot (until now) but while we were at my parents’ house in Arkansas he did get out a few times.

These pictures are from the first time he REALLY rode. He pedaled himself all the way down the street and back. He had a hard time stopping if he was going downhill, but he was really good at pedaling. He told me, “When you got really strong feet, the rollers will go.” Apparently, he has really strong feet.

We’ve been out a few times since we moved into our new house, but not frequently enough for Vince to really get the hang of the bike thing. We’ll be working on it this year, I assure you.

 

If you’re wondering why he’s only in shorts – it was probably 90-100 degrees that day (even if it was overcast) and around 40-50% humidity.

Monday Musings - Mother’s Day In

Well, the pictures below have almost nothing to do with what I’m writing about, but I need to post pictures, so here you go.

I went to my in-laws house last week and spent the night. Russ was gone, so it was just me and the kids. And today, while I was thinking about how refreshing it was to go there, I realized exactly why (besides the fact that I really like them!).

I love my babies. So much. And I always need their cuddles and love. But I also need a little time to myself.

One solution to this dilemma is to take the kids to a daycare, get a sitter, or otherwise remove them from my presence (or me from theirs). But whenever I do this, one of two things happens:

1.) If I left the kids because I needed to get something done (take a class, run errands, etc) I end up completely focused on the task, and I end up not really having time to myself.
2.) If I left the kids because I “needed time to myself” or went on a date with their Papai, I end up thinking (or talking) about the kids the whole time.

So I’ve discovered what is actually more refreshing for me:

Having the kids where I am (in the same house, but not necessarily climbing all over me, needing me to feed them, wash them, potty them, etc etc) but having someone else be the primary caregiver for them. That means, if they come running to get on me, the other person who is taking care of them comes and gets them and takes care of their needs. But they are still around for me to go give love and kisses to, or play with for a little while. Or if I decide I want to feed them a snack, I can – but all the pressure of caring for the children is removed.

Sometimes Russ does this (takes care of the kids while I’m still around), and I feel great afterward. It’s like just enough of a break without feeling like I’m “getting away” from my kids. I don’t want to get away from them, but knowing that I don’t have to be the one making sure their every need is met at every second is a nice breather for me.

I think that is what makes me feel like a new person. Heck, what makes me feel like a person instead of solely a source of sustenance for two small children and a pillar for a grown man.

(p.s. funny story about that snowman – a few weeks later, Vince was asking, “Let’s go outside and make a Vincente-size snowman so I can put the carrot in his nose. Not a big snowman.” Ha ha. Cute kid.)

There is Sunshine in My Soul

For those of you who might not remember, or don’t know, my oldest brother passed away last August after a 9 month battle with cancer.

Shortly after he passed, me and the kids moved half way across the country to be closer to Russ while he was attending some training for his job. Then, a month later when he graduated from that school, we moved back to Utah. The next several weeks were a struggle and a commotion – we were trying to get into our house, get Russ a job, get financing arranged for the house, and the list goes on. Then Thanksgiving, Christmas, and the new year hit, and I didn’t have two seconds to sit down and really process everything.

Russ left for some more job training a few weeks ago, and as I got into a rhythm with the kids, all the grief hit me.

It happened on Sunday at Stake Conference as a sweet lady behind us held Joseline, Vincente colored quietly, and I was alone with my thoughts for the first time in months. I wanted to cry and cry and cry, but sobbing loudly in the middle of Stake Conference would probably not be appropriate, so I tried to contain it, and managed with only a few tears. On Monday, I was so depressed I could barely move. I didn’t want to do anything but sit and cry – but I knew that I couldn’t cry in front of the kids – not the way I needed to – and I didn’t really want to be crying alone. So I held it in.

On Tuesday we went to spend the night at my in-laws house. It was actually perfect. I was still kind of in a funk the whole time, but my mother in law and little brothers took care of the kids, loved on them, kissed their boo boos, and fed them while I just kind of stewed. Then on Tuesday night, after everyone was in bed, I decided to write a little in my journal. I was able to work through a lot of my grief – writing in my journal is usually very therapeutic for me, and this time was no exception. I won’t share with you everything that I wrote, but I think that one of the things that I ache for the most is the relationship that I might have been able to have with my brother if he was still alive.

Well, Wednesday morning and afternoon I was still in a bit of a funk, but by the evening, I was feeling better, and last night I went to bed for the first time in months without feeling as if I wouldn’t really care if I didn’t wake up the next morning. I was ready for the next day last night when my head hit the pillow – even though I was going to bed late (after midnight). My husband, and maybe other people who know me, know that without a full 8 hours of sleep, I’m pretty grouchy in the morning and don’t want to get out of bed. But even with a late night (and a lonely one at that!) I was still anxious to get up with my alarm clock and start the morning off right!

Then yesterday there was some sunshine, and today has been sunny all day long – that probably has a lot to do with it as well. But I feel renewed, now that I got a lot of that grief out.

It’s not all over – the healing is not done – but it has finally started, after nearly 5 months. And it will continue until I see my brother again after this life. But at least I’m not standing still, knee deep in sorrow. Sure, I’m still knee deep in it – but I’m walking toward dry land. I can see it off there in the distance and I know that if I just keep moving (talking about him and the hurt inside) I will get to that dry land, and he’ll be there, and I might get a second chance with him.

Fact Sheet

Back in 2008, shortly after the talk was given, I posted several of these “facts” from Elder M. Russell Ballard’s General Conference talk.

I’d like to share some more of the facts today, and I will actually be posting one fact each day on my Facebook page until I run out of facts. And then when I run out of facts, I’ll probably start posting the articles of faith.

First, “Mormon” is a nickname for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Members are often referred to as “Mormons,” “Latter-day Saints,” or “LDS.” The term “Saint” means “member.”

Second, the Church was restored in 1830 in upstate New York with Joseph Smith as its first prophet and president. Today it is headquartered in Salt Lake City, with President Gordon B. Hinckley as the present prophet.

Third, there are now over 13 million members in 176 countries and territories. About 6 million of these are in the United States, making us the fourth largest Christian denomination in America. As one of the fastest growing Christian faiths in the world, we complete a new chapel every working day. Members pay a tithe, which is 10 percent of their income, making this and other programs possible.

Fourth, local congregations are led by volunteer, unpaid members. Both men and women serve in assigned leadership positions.

And fifth, Mormons are well represented in politics and government. (In the United States, for example, there are 16 members in Congress, from both political parties.) Members also serve in high and trusted positions throughout the world in business, medicine, law, education, media, sports, and entertainment.

We believe in the eternity of the soul, that God is the Father of our spirits, and that we can return to Him after death.

We believe that Jesus Christ is our personal Savior, and we try to model our lives after Him and His teachings. We commemorate Christ’s atoning sacrifice in our Sunday worship services, similar to taking communion in other churches. We accept as fellow Christians all who believe Jesus Christ to be the Son of God and the Savior of all mankind. Many Christians do not understand that we have much common ground with them. Joseph Smith taught that Jesus Christ is the core of our belief, and everything else is an appendage to it (see Elders’ Journal, July 1838, 44). The name of the Church is The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

We believe the original church that Jesus established was lost and has been restored again in our day. The priesthood, the authority given to man to act in the name of God, with apostles and a prophet to lead us, has been restored as have all necessary ordinances of salvation.

We believe in and we use the Holy Bible, both the Old and New Testaments.

And we believe in the Book of Mormon and other books of scripture which support and authenticate the Bible and testify of the ministry and divinity of Christ and of God’s ongoing revelation to man. Indeed, the Book of Mormon is “Another Testament of Jesus Christ.”

Mormons place particularly strong emphasis on family as the basic unit of the Church and of society. We have a deep commitment to marriage (defined as a union between one man and one woman). Polygamy, a limited practice in the early pioneer days of the Church, was discontinued in 1890, some 117 years ago.

Families and individuals, whether members of our faith or not, can attend Sunday services in our chapels. Here we worship together, instructing one another from the scriptures.

Latter-day Saint families are encouraged to hold family home evenings weekly, usually on Monday nights. This provides a regular and predictable time for parents to teach values to their children and to have fun together. We invite those not of our faith to adopt this practice with their own families.

The Church has auxiliary programs for women, youth, and children as a support to the family. These programs provide such things as religious instruction, opportunities for Christian service, sports, drama, music, and Scouting.

And there is also much focus on extended family, genealogy, and personal family history, providing young and old with a stronger sense of roots, identity, and belonging. The highest and most sacred ordinances of our faith relate to our families, both living and dead, and some of these ordinances take place in our temples.

One of the fruits is a longer life. Studies show that practicing Mormons are healthier and therefore live longer than the national average. In 1833 the Lord revealed to Joseph Smith the Word of Wisdom, which is the way to live in order to enjoy a long and healthy life.

Second, those who are married in and attend the temple regularly have a divorce rate far below the national and world average.

Third, we achieve an educational level that is higher than the national average.

Fourth, over 70,000 members volunteer at their own expense to serve for 18 to 24 months in humanitarian efforts, Church service assignments, and full-time missionary service throughout the world.

And fifth, we place strong emphasis on self-reliance and a solid work ethic. We encourage active involvement in our communities and in providing service to others. The Church continues to donate substantial money, goods, and services to humanitarian causes around the globe, including untold hours of labor donated by members to assist in disaster cleanup and relief.

I think I will be going more in depth about these and some other facts on my scripture study blog. Maybe I’ll do a “Mormon.org” type series or something. Hmm...

Monday Musings... on Saturday

It’s been a while! I have been meaning to post a few things on the blog – what we’ve been up to lately – but the being “up to” has taken up all our time, which leaves not much for blogging!

Today I have a training class for getting our foster care license. My awesome sister Christy and her husband are coming over to hang out with the kids while I’m gone, since Russ is at some more job training for about two weeks. Hopefully I will be more on the ball this next week (not to mention not having a husband, so I’ll probably have a lot of time to spare...) so I’ll post Christmas pictures and get more regular again.

My goal this year is also to print the last 3 years of blogging into blog books. I will probably print one for each year. When I started posting pictures, that was the idea – that I would print the blog to make a journal/scrapbook... mostly because while I used to LOVE scrapbooking, being a mom has kind of taken up most of my time. I may even add in entries from some of my other blogs – combine them into one big book.

My other goal is to get all of our family videos (all the clips I took over the past several years) organized and edited and put on to DVDs so we can have easily-watchable family videos.

It’s going to be a year of personal history for me. Personal and family history. Preserving today’s memories and experiences for our kids.

Above are the gingerbread houses we made with some friends before Christmas. I will be posting about that over on Child’s Play. I will also be posting a tutorial for Borax snowflakes over there.

Feel free to check out my scripture study blog for my thoughts on October 2010 General Conference – my topic of study right now. Also, here is an interesting blog post (from someone else’s blog) about President Packer’s talk from General Conference.

Other than that, we’re just hanging out. I’ve got lots of Christmas pictures to post, and thoughts about that – and I need to post our Christmas traditions somewhere for next year (along with my thoughts about how to make next year a little more... smooth sailing, and help us remember the reason for the season).

And, to end on a happy note – a picture of Joseline (taken by Vince)

Joseline in Shoes

Joseline is surely all girl. She loves my shoes, Vincente’s shoes, her own shoes. I’ll go in my room and see all my shoes taken out of the closet, because she has been playing with them. She absolutely loves to wear shoes. She’s learning to put on her own shoes – something Vincente still struggles with. She also likes to dress herself – another thing Vince still doesn’t enjoy.

What a girl!

Word Verification

Sorry to all of you who have had to wade through the annoying word verification - I finally turned it off. I forgot it was still on until I mentioned something to a friend who also has word verification enabled on a private blog. I went to figure out exactly how to tell her to turn it off when I discovered, much to my dismay, that I had it on still... after probably 2+ years.

Silly me.

Well, now you can comment to your hearts content without having to deal with the word verification.

Go for it!

Monday Musings – Entertaining Angels

I read this scripture this morning:

From Hebrews 13:2, and I think it will be our theme for our life in the next several years.

We started the process to become licensed as foster parents. We decided a long time ago that we want to foster and adopt, and that we wanted to be parents to any children who needed them. We want to provide a safe place, a warm home, for any child who needs a place to be safe.

The licensing process is a little long, but we are on our way! I have been feeling this tug at my heart for the past several months – and now that we are finally taking the steps, I feel great and I can’t wait for us to be licensed foster parents.

If you want to entertain angels in your home, if only for a little while, contact the Utah Foster Care Foundation (or the foster care foundation in your state) and apply for foster care.

Why should you? Because you may end up entertaining “angels unawares.”

Graduation

 

Russ became a “real” soldier on September 30, 2010. By real I mean, he finally had all the training necessary to do a job in the military. The picture at the top was at his company’s award ceremony the night before graduation, at which Russ received several awards, including the GAFB (pronounced “gaff-bee” – weird, I know... military... go figure) – the German Armed Forces Badge – basically you qualify by doing really well on the APFT (the physical fitness test) and by shooting a bunch of stuff, and by in general being a good soldier.

These two pictures are at the actual graduation. It was short and sweet, just the way I like it. Vincente played Monkey Preschool Lunchbox most of the time (man I love my iPhone...) and Joseline mostly just sat around. The cutie.  We are so proud of our Papai! He is such a great soldier and has done a lot of good stuff! And we are sooo happy he is done with all of his initial entry training! 

Pajams & All

This is what happens when there is a bath running and I haven’t helped Joseline undress... The girl loves baths... it’s funny how some kids hate ‘em, and some kids love ‘em.

Monday Musings – Let it Snow

It has been snowing. Lots and lots. Vincente is excited to go play in the snow. Last night he didn’t want to go to bed because he was afraid the snow would melt while he was sleeping. After assuring him that the snow would still be there, he finally went to sleep.

This morning, the very first thing he asked me was “Is the snow still outside?” Of course it was. Then he proclaimed “It’s my special snow!”

Kids have the cutest perspective – they think all the things they love in the world were made especially for them.

You know, I think they are completely right.

Do the Do

Hair do, that is.

What is my favorite thing about having a girl? Dressing her up? Nah – I did a lot of that with Vince (dressing him up like GQ man, baby Gap models, etc)

It’s doing her hair. It’s been a lot of fun (although I’m anxious for it to get longer and thicker so I can do some French braids or something!) Right now I mostly just clip back her bangs, for pull them back in a half pony and flip them under. But back in the summer when I was bored to death, I did a few neato hair dos (the one with the braids was inspired by this website).

This one I love, but was kind of messy the first time I did it. We did this do again later, and it turned out a little better. I want to do it again, but I left all my little rubber bands at MIL’s house, so I’ll  have to wait until I can get some more, or until I get those back. Some day.

I absolutely loved this one. Next time I will make the braids a little neater, and try to do the back ones closer to the front ones. Hey, I’ve only had a boy for 2 of the last 3 1/2 years, and Joseline hasn’t always had a lot of hair. Remember? It takes a little practice to get these things down!

I love the little half piggies. And the braids helped keep her bangs from falling out of the piggies. I want to do this one again.

I need to start making it a goal to do Joseline’s hair every morning. I never really had to do anything with Vince’s hair, but if I don’t take care of Joss’, it ends up in a matted, dirty mess in her face.

Do you have a good website or book you use to learn hair dos for your little girl? Do you just experiment and find something that looks cute?

Wednesday Wanderings has moved

As of Wednesday, Nov 24, Wednesday Wanderings will move permanently to my Child’s Play blog. Head on over there to check out our ice skating adventure!

Playmates

Our last week in Arizona we got to hang out with our good friends Griff and Ethan and their mommies. It was probably the last time all our kiddos will be together for a long while. We really enjoyed the company! Especially after such a long lonely summer.

And then we got to play with Ethan for a few more days after that. Joseline and Ethan have so much fun together (when they aren’t pushing each other down or stealing each other’s toys, but hey, what are friends for, anyway)

Monday Musings – A House of Order

Sometimes this is what my life feels like. Messy with little bits of life strewn all over. I’ve been doing pretty well keeping my life and house in order, but the weekend was pretty crazy (thanks for coming, all you who came to warm our house!) and I felt like I was getting further and further behind on life – leaving little scattered pieces of life lying around for people to step on. It was tragic.

Thanks to my sweet husband, he picked up all the scattered pieces and delicately put them back together for me, while I slept most of the weekend off. It was great.

Then we had an uplifting evening with some new friends on Sunday, and today had Family Home Evening – a beautiful lesson about God, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost (the Godhead). We sang the First Article of Faith song (in Portuguese – Regres de Fe) and we’ll sing it every day for the rest of the month, and hopefully Vincente will learn to recite the first article of faith himself. We’re going to make a sticker chart to “pass off” the articles of faith as we learn them (everyone, me, Papai, Vince, and Joss). We’re going to learn one a month, starting with the first this month (since it’s such a short article of faith, and the month is over half done, we figured it was a perfect time to start, instead of waiting until January – “New Years” resolutions can be made at any time of the year, in my book!)

So, now that the house is mostly back in order, and I got 8 full hours of sleep last night (plus a 1 1/2 hour nap! Which I wasn’t planning on taking...) I think I will be able to keep the little bits of my life from getting too scattered.

And Family Home Evening always puts me in a good mood – especially when they are followed with conversations like this:

Me: Vince, does Heavenly Father have a body like ours?
Vince: Yup.
Me: Does Jesus Christ have a body like ours?
Vince: Yep he does.
Me: What about the Holy Ghost? Does he have a body like ours?
Vince: Except, he don’t.

Love it. He soaks stuff up like a sponge (and I’m extra impressed, because FHE was entirely in Portuguese – which means he understands more than we think he does!).

What kinds of things throw your life off track? Do you ever feel like you’re leaving bits of your life strewn around? How to you clean up and get back on track? Do you have a sweet husband (or good friend) who helps pick up after you when you can’t seem to hold it all together?

Snake Charmer

My snake charmer and his little snakes. I knew those recorders weren’t all bad...

Motherhood

“Some of you sisters may feel inadequate because you can’t seem to do all you want to do. Motherhood and parenting are most challenging roles. You also have Church callings that you fulfill so capably and conscientiously ... In general you noble sisters are doing a much better job of holding it all together and making it work than you realize. May I suggest that you take your challenges one day at a time. Do the best you can. Look at everything through the lens of eternity. If you will do this, life will take on a different perspective.” (President Faust)

“If you are still in the process of raising children, be aware that the tiny fingerprints that show up on almost every newly cleaned surface, the toys scattered about the house, the piles and piles of laundry to be tackled will disappear all too soon and that you will—to your surprise—miss them profoundly.” (President Monson)

 

“Children have their agency and often express it when very young.” (President Faust)

“There is no one perfect way to be a good mother. Each situation is unique. Each mother has different challenges, different skills and abilities, and certainly different children. The choice is different and unique for each mother and each family.” (President Packer)

Some days I totally feel like this...

There is something really awesome about being a mother. Even when it is challenging. Even on the days when I feel like I wasn’t good for anything. These sweet faces keep me going – these sweet little spirits that inhabit our home and make it a better, more joyful place to be. Little children are so joyful! I can’t tell you how many times the noise and commotion has made my heart swell with emotion (granted, sometimes that emotion is frustration – but when I stop and think about what is making the commotion, and stop and “smell the roses” I can’t help but be overwhelmed with the beauty of it all!)

I hope you feel the same way.

Motherhood is my dream job. ‘Nuff said.

(Descriptions for the pictures, starting at the top, and going left to right when there are two:
–grumpy Joseline face
– spaghetti Joseline face
– Vincente being adorable, as usual
– what I found in the fridge one day: an eyelash curler and a Lightening McQueen watch in a measure cup... yeah, gotta love being a mom
– they don’t like the sun in their eyes, can you tell?
– how Vincente entertained himself at Home Depot... Joseline, too
– see caption
– Vincente enjoying the picture screensaver on the computer; he freaks out if it turns off...
– Joseline icing her boo boo on her head)

Monday Musings – He Will Come

Last night we watched The Testaments: Of One Fold and One Shepherd as a family. Complete with popcorn. It was the best Sunday movie night we’ve ever had.

As usual, I bawled during practically the entire movie.

I know the Savior came, taught, lived, died and was resurrected for us and I know that He will come again. I hope that when He does come I will be prepared to meet Him. I want to be like Helam in the movie (and many people I’m sure who were actually there) and live my entire life waiting, watching, and preparing for the coming of the Savior.

I can’t think of anything more wonderful than to finally see the Savior. All I can think about during that movie is how it will feel to see Him. How it will feel to be with the multitude who will fall at His feet and worship Him. I think it will be kind of like the feeling I get when I see Russ after some long military training that takes him away from me. Only times a million, because the coming of the Savior is much more significant. I know that I will cry and cry and cry and kiss His feet and hands and tell Him how happy I am that He is finally here.

Now I just need to live each day so that when He comes again I will be worthy to walk with Him.

Wednesday Wanderings – West Jordan Public Library Story Time

Sorry this week’s wandering is a little late (and a little lame... I mean, a library again?) But it’s really the only place we’ve been lately, so... here goes.

We went to story time yesterday at the West Jordan Library. It was actually by far the best library story time I have ever taken my children to. The librarian who ran the show was great, the kids absolutely loved her, the whole thing was themed (boxes!!) and at the end, each kid got to decorate their own box to take home (with a little prize from the librarian tucked inside!)

Now, when I say we “went” to the library, what I mean is we walked to story time. The library is only about a mile away, and half of that we get to walk through the neighborhood (the other half is on the scary busy street). It would be a nice walk, except it was snowing yesterday and it was about 32 degrees outside. Yikes.

Well, Russ had the car at work (can’t drive a motorcycle in the snow), so we walked because I had to get out of the house. I also have a weather shield for the stroller, so it wasn’t bad. And when the sun was shining and the wind wasn’t blowing, it was actually too hot for a big coat.

Story time is officially part of our weekly routine – rain or shine (or snow!) – and hopefully the van will be available for us. Otherwise I might just have to check out the bus schedule... for a 1 mile ride. Seriously, it was cold.

Ratings:

Value –

It was like free preschool. You can’t beat that.

Location –

Uh, 1 mile from my house? It just can’t get better than that. And the library is on the main street (and just off Redwood Rd) – better than the last library we visited.

  Fun Factor –

The kids loved it, and Vincente actually remembered everything about it and regurgitated it to Russ when he got home from work.

Your Turn! Go write your Wednesday Wanderings blog and link up here! Here’s the html for the button:

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