A Big Day For Athena!

Athena had a very big day (and night!) this weekend! She slept in her own bed, by herself, all night for the first time since she's been about 18 months old! She has separation anxiety that surfaces at night time. John and I have been very patient with having her sleep with us knowing that it is what she needs to feel secure. It's been hard when we felt like we needed to defend it to others who have no idea about adoption and separation anxiety but we know we're doing the right thing. We told her that when she felt ready to sleep alone in her own room we would get her a pet fish to have in her room to keep her company. We headed out today to pick one out:) We know she's going to have a long road ahead of her until she feels secure enough to hop into bed by herself with no tears every night, but we sure celebrated that first night and her getting her pet that she earned!

Here she is with her new pet Goldie the Goldfish. Yes, there is a fish in there-hiding behind the red plant in the corner after her exciting day of a ride in the car and a new home:)

We even celebrated with a goldfish breakfast! A PBJ cut out into a goldfish (a circle for the body and a heart for the tail), then covered with orange carrot 'scales'. The eye is a dried blueberry and the bubbles are cookie sprinkles.
We'll see how tonight goes! She's tucked in and reading books to Goldie right now, but she was very anxious about being alone in bed again tonight. I think we'll also do a sticker chart where she can earn other fun things for sleeping in her big girl bed. The sticker chart worked great when she started at preschool and there were tears every morning when it was drop off time. I needed to use it for about a month. After that she was used to drop off and we didn't need it anymore.

One thing is for absolute sure. We love her so much and are so proud of her no matter how long it takes! We're going to continue to be patient and do whatever it takes to help her be successful at this next big step:)

You'll never buy pancake mix again.

This is my go-to recipe for home made pancakes. They turn out great every time and the ingredients are things you always have on hand. They taste way better than the box mix kind and you don't need to worry about pancake mix expiring in the pantry if you don't go through it fast enough. The cast of characters:

1 1/4 cup flour

3 t. baking powder

1 T. sugar

1/2 t. salt

1 egg

1 cup milk

2 T. vegetable oil

Directions:

Mix all ingredients with electric hand mixer until mostly smooth. Let batter stand 20 minutes. Then fry 'em up:)

Wilderness Waterpark 2011

We had our second annual trip to the Wilderness Waterpark in Wisconsin Dells last weekend with friends. As expected it was so much fun and we're already making plans for next year:) This year instead of getting all separate rooms, we all shared a 3 bedroom suite and it was so nice with the kids to have the room to spread out and hang out together. There was a kitchen and living room and 3 bedrooms and each family got one bedroom. We arrived Friday evening and stayed until mid afternoon on Sunday and we all played in the waterparks all 3 days. The kids were exhausted after the weekend! (and the parents were a little bit too;) It's an affordable little mini vacation that we plan to keep doing every year as long as the kids are interested and keep enjoying it.

Here is Athena on her favorite 'green slide'.

Alton was a total water baby and had a blast in the baby areas at each of the 3 indoor waterparks at the resort.

Handsome surfer dude!

Look out below!
Daddy and Alton taking a Cheeto break:)

The 3 big girls goofing around:)

Our crew for the weekend:) Ages 2, 5, 4, 1, 4, 1

We're already looking forward to our 2012 trip back!