The Draper's take on MONOPOLY!

We LOVE Monopoly!! I always loved the game as a kid, but never had anyone to play it with. As teenagers, Clay and I used to play it on the Nintendo at a friends house with her and her boyfriend. We have had Monopoly marathons with my sister....and now...the kids are old enough to play. I was amazed at how well Noah was able to play it. And just taking our time, the girls did well too. We had to do all the money and stuff for Rachel, but Noah helped her with that. Leah helped read the cards. It is a great adding/subtracting/money teaching game that is fun! I got this one for Clay's b-day, and we all love that this is the Pixar version. It makes it more exciting for the kids. Noah LOVES it...he tries to get everyone that comes over to play it with him.

The game pieces are Mr. Incredible, Buzz Lightyear, Nemo, Sully (Monster's Inc), Rattatouie..(I know I spelled that wrong!) and Lightning McQueen


Bugs life characters on the $1 bills
These kids would really shake up their dice!!

Leah trying to read that card over his shoulder



So, we had to take a break, and then we came back to the game, and it was late by then, so Rachel pooped out on us pretty soon...but Noah and Leah were in it for the long haul.

Notice, to the right...Leah's money is just strewn everywhere, on the other side of the board, Noah has his money stacked neatly and organized.

Yep...getting close to 12:00 am and going strong
This was towards the end. This is pure emotion here....Noah just found out he owed Leah a bunch of money.
And she was happy to purchase some more houses with the money Noah just paid her! Wrapped in her blanket, with a drink in her hand~
And then, Daddy had to carry her to bed when it was over b/c she was so tired......but she came in 2nd place.

We've got Chrysalis

I missed taking a pic of our caterpillars on Sunday, and that was the biggest they got. They were huge! By Monday morning, this was the scene in the cup. They were attached to the top, 2 had formed their chrysalis, and the other 3 were starting to curl up. What I didn't know until we started this, was that moth's make cocoons, and most butterflies form chrysalis. It is like the caterpillar curls up, and gets hard...I want to touch them, but am scared to damage them...but they are very neat looking. It cracks me up to hear Rachel, go....Look at the chrysalis! My entire life, I have thought that butterflies make cocoons. I am glad to know my 4 yr old has been set straight!

This was Monday evening
by Tuesday morning, they had all changed, and it was time to remove the paper they were attached to and place it in the butterfly cage. Now, we will wait about a week, and we will have butterflies! And after all that, did you know that butterfies only live a few weeks?? Once they become a butterfly, their #1 job is to mate and lay more eggs, to start the process all over again. Butterflies also pollenate....that is their other job. They drink flower nectar, and the pollen sticks to their feet and they pass it along to the next flower. I never knew any of this stuff. I truly don't know what I ever learned in school.

swim team

I am proud to say that a child of mine is going to be on swim team this summer. And not only that, he is a good swimmer...thanks to his daddy's good genes! (Clay's dad told me yesterday....it's in the blood!) He has never had swim lessons, and he can swim better than me, and I had lessons as a child and did horrible, and have had a lifetime to practice.

I got him this swimshirt b/c it is still pretty cold, and he was just shivering tonight at his first night of practice. He did great though. The kids 6 and under get to use a kickboard to help out, but he just jumped in there and took off at tryouts, and today his coach said he didn't even need to start with kickboard, and she put him in his own lane for awhile for some girls to work with him on his technique. I am so glad I signed him up. He told me in the car that was a bit too much to learn all at one time! He was pretty tired b/c they had him swim that whole length of pool several times, but he has practice 3 times a week so I know his stamina will build up quick. And we will be going to the pool a lot this summer. Maumelle has a great pool with 2 water slides...(one of them looks like a slide from a water park!)

Don't you know how that happens!?!

That is a line I heard so many times during that 2 year span when I was spitting out babies. You can imagine all the flack and jokes we got at the hospital as the nurses remembered us each time. It is o.k. to have 2 back to back...yes, we really didn't know at the time how that happens...haha, but to do it a third time...SURELY we knew by now how that happens! Yes, I do know how that happens...birth control pills made me psycho and they were flushed down the toilet...that is how that happened. And what a blessing both my girls are. WHAT A BLESSING! I always wanted a big family. We had 2 families at church that had 5 children, and I would watch them with fascination...so I wanted a big family. And I used to babysit these 2 boys, Connor and Kyle, and they were adorable...and they were only a year apart, and I had hoped my kids would be like that. And they were!

I know I touched on this in my posts about my babies...but truly, that was a VERY crazy time for us. VERY. I lived each day truly as....oh, we made it through this day. And I wouldn't have made it through a lot of my days had I not had my sister staying with me to keep me company, my husband close by at work that could take off and help me, and my mom to help with shots, and doc visits, and to babysit a few hours a week so I could get out by myself. My mother in law kept them either on Friday or Sat every weekend so that Clay and I could go eat, grocery shop...whatever just to have some time away together. That was so important. And then I went back to work at Wagnon Place, and worked 3 weekdays, and as much as I missed them....work truly was a vacation...much easier than being home taking care of them. I worked much harder on my days off than when I was at work. This is how I survived Rachel's first year of her life.

While I was pregnant with Rachel, I had a very active 1 year old, and getting active very quickly 6 month and older child, and I was EXHAUSTED. And Very moody, and poor, had a 2 bdrm house...couldn't spend the gas money to go see family and friends in Monticello...had to use that money for formula and diapers. (I wasn't able to breastfeed with any of my babies...but that is a whole story in itself). I KNEW I was blessed, but I just didn't feel that way. I was excited about my 3rd baby, but so exhausted, scared and everything else. So we begain talking about how to prevent this from happening one more time. As stressed as I was physically....so was my husband financially, and mentally as well. So, we came to the decision that I would get my tubes tied. We were on medicaid for our 3rd baby, and it paid for me to have my tubes tied.

So the morning after my 3rd child was born, they wheeled me in the operating room, strapped my arms down beside me, and while I lay there feeling so scared, alone, and doubtful of my decision, I watched my doctor flirt with my pretty nurse, while they nonchalantly tied my tubes. I remember my anthesiologist standing by my head...very kind, asking me over and over again if I was o.k....and at one instant my nose was itching, and he scratched it for me. (This is the same one I'd had with me giving birth the day before. I had overheard some nurses badmouthing him...saying he was a womanizer and a jerk, but at that moment, I felt he was the only one on my side) I remember I went home from that hospital that night, wanting to be brave and to do it all on my own. Leah jumped in my lap and bounced on my belly, and I tried so hard to fight back tears b/c my mother in law was there, but as soon as she left, I called my mom fighting back tears, and told her that yes, I wanted her to come help the next day. And she helped me out so much during that time b/c I couldn't even lift my other 2 babies.

At the time, I was so overwhelmed, I did think that having my tubes tied was the best decision...and I accepted that as best as I could. I mean, 3 kids is enough for anyone, right?? I should just feel lucky to have those. But as time went on, my kids got older....the weight and finality of that decision began to weigh very heavy. Guilt....pure guilt. When once I would laugh and tell people, YES, I know how this happens, and that is why I put a stop to it and had my tubes tied.....I then became very embarrassed about it. Ashamed that I CHOSE to not have anymore children, when so many people around me couldn't have children, or had to stop b/c of problems, or wasn't able to have another after the first was so easy. I felt guilty for having my children so easily, and also guilty for chosing to not have more. Whenever people would ask me if we were through, or going to have more, I would just quietly say, I can't have anymore children, and hope they wouldn't ask me why. I think if I had known I had to get them tied for medical reasons, or there was a reason I could have more for any other reason besides the fact I made that decision....I could have dealt with that better.

And then we started photographing weddings. And if you have ever been to a catholic wedding, their main focus for the ceremony is blessing their marriage and talking about how children are a gift from God, and how they are his blessings on them. And that laid even more guilt in my lap. Who was I to make the decision that I have had enough children...when it should have been God's decision. How many more children did he have planned for me, that I stopped? Because I can't remember if I ever even prayed about my decision to have my tubes tied. Guilt....major Guilt. And I allowed it to be directed towards my husband. Afterall, even though I agreed to have that done to myself, I did not reach that decision without much influence from him. And I blamed him. And I was letting it quietly eat me up inside.

And even now, as I type this, I feel like I am confessing a deep sin. Please don't get me wrong. I have NEVER judged anyone for any decisions they make about having children. I don't think about it, nor care. I am strickly talking about how I have judged myself and the decision I made. But, I have found some peace. And I know this time, God has given me that peace. My guilt, as I said was building and building, and at the same time I had been hoping, dreaming that we could somehow have more children. And one day, when I was in prayer, it came to me, just as if God was speaking to me....I believe he was. And I realized that day, that it was o.k. I no longer had to hate myself, blame my husband, and carry that guilt. He still has a plan for me and our family. And this plan is to have more children, but not by growing them in my womb, but by growing them in our heart. And maybe, just maybe, having my tubes tied was in God's plan all along. He knew all along my dream had been to be a mom of someone else's children. I was looking into it already when I became pregnant with Noah. Even before I had my own children, I was open to the idea of adoption. But would I be starting this journey now if I had continued to have children? Would we have started our business that brought us to LR, and allowed me to become involved with DHS, to know the system, and to know others that are doing this right now, to know that I could do it too? No, we wouldn't be in this place at all if I had continued to have more children of my own. Would I have even been blessed with more children if I hadn't made that decision?? I don't even know that I would....although as easily as I had them, I figure that I probably would have. And b/c I truly believe that I am doing God's will for my by becoming a foster parent, I am able to be open just to fostering, even knowing that after I love them like my own, they may have to leave. And the best part....my resentment towards Clay is gone, and I am so glad for that. It brings such peace. He didn't deserve for me to feel that way, and I know that, and now, I am just so thankful that he has agreed to fostercare with me. Such a blessing.

Happy Birthday Clay!

Today was Clay's 33rd b-day! We didn't really do anything at all today....at his request. We did go out to eat yesterday, and the kids and I made him a cake and gave him his presents.

He deserves a big long post about how special he is to me....but he is so much. I am just not very long winded tonight. The other day, I was telling the kids that I remembered when their daddy turned 16, and started driving. He got a Nissan Maxima....it was a standard...and he let me drive it....b/c he didn't believe I knew how to drive one...but I did b/c that is the only kind of vehicle my parents had at the time, and I had to learn on one. So, he let me drive it down my friends dead in road. (Quail Run) I remember riding around with him a lot in that car....wishing, dreaming that he would like me. Those memories are so funny to me now. And I don't remember the moment that I actually first met him, but my family moved to Monticello when I was 11 and started going to church with him. So that would mean he was 13....so I have known my husband for TWENTY years! Isn't that wild! I hadn't even thought about that until now.

I love him so much...he is my best friend, my world. And has been for so long. And he is the best dad I could have ever imagined for my children....and that makes me fall in love with him more and more everyday. Happy Birthday, Clay....I love you so much!

I love a good deal

When I went to Target the other day, they were having a 75% off sale of their $1 bin. Sweet! Even cooler...this week we have been studying about dinosaurs and they had a bunch of dinosaur stuff! Could not have been more perfect timing! I got them a 3D book with all the dinosaurs, names and descriptions that came with a pair of 3D glasses, 3 jars of Dinosaur slime that had little dinosaurs skeletons inside, and 4 wooden dinosaur models to build. So ya counting with me....I got all that for $2.00! I just gave them the slime this morning, and they LOVE it! I also love in these pictures that you can see the boy written all over Noah's face....excitement of goo...and the girls...not so sure at first....and Leah even had to get her a towel b/c she didn't like the way it feels in her hands. But, she got over it quickly....they have been playing with it a long time, and were so excited about it!

Photos by Leah

Since getting my new camera, I have passed the old one along to the kids, but they haven't shown much interest in it. The other day, we went downtown to the Museum of Discovery, and Leah wanted to bring it along. This is some of what she got...and she also got a lot of strange things in the car..and of course I have edited them...but not much, and I didn't tell her to take any of these pics...she did it all on her own.

I LOVE LOVE this first one that she took of herself

Noah was being a big grouch, and didn't want his picture taken...but I like this one anyway





And there were about 10 pics of hers and Rachel's feet. Here is where Leah hurt her toe at the museum.