Story.

Remember Wynne? and her cute babies? She asked me to share on her blog yesterday for her series called "Anybody." Click here to check it out and then if you're not already following her blog, add it to your reader. Trust me. Good people and good stuff. Go.

Do The Desmond!

So...Dez makes this face a lot:

So I posted this:

And then this happened all over my Facebook wall...

I have funny friends.

The Switch Out.

We live in a great apartment. It's not too small for 4 peeps. Until you add all the stuff . All the stuff we decided we needed along the way. Half of it we don't even remember we own, honestly. It's overwhelming at times and I'm sure overstimulating to the boys. Not to mention, the kids play with the top layer of all of the toy baskets mostly. The bottom ones seem to be perpetually benched.

I'm not sure where I first heard this idea but we're trying it out. We're calling it The Switch Out. The last few days we've started filling boxes with half of the toys/books/puzzles/games. (Because the majority of our space is filled with kid clutter.) The plan is to put those boxes in the basement for a few months, then switch out the first set with the second set. Essentially rotating two sets of toys/books into circulation.

So far the kids haven't asked for anything that's already packed up. It feels more simple, less chaotic. Makes me a little giddy. I'm also looking forward to the boys seeing their packed toys in a few months! It'll feel like Christmas!

After we'd already started this, a friend sent me this article on Apartment Therapy. Good stuff if you're needing some guidance on how to get through it all.

Now, to help Dez and his spoon hoarding issue...

I Instagram so I'll remember.

I have a terrible memory.

My brother will bring up some story from our childhood and I have absolutely no recollection of any part of it. I recently posted a pic of my 6th grade class on Facebook and most of us were tagged in it and started sharing memories. I didn't remember even half of them.

It's terrible. I'm the best person to confide secrets to since I won't remember them long enough to gossip them.

I sometimes worry (People Pleaser alert!) that I overwhelm people on my Instagram, Facebook or blog feeds with pics and stories of my kids. (I obviously don't care enough to slow down.)

Yes, I'm obsessed with my family but I also want to remember every single detail. I know they're growing up crazy fast and even though I'm excited for the stages to come, I want to remember how obsessed Dez was with spoons for a month straight, and how SERIOUS Eliot's face gets when he plays noise on guitar (we're not calling it music quite yet...).

My average follower (that sounds super weird) looks at them for a second and then moves on. I look at them constantly. Over and over. I sometimes go back and read my blog from this month 5 years ago, just to remember Eliot at the stage Dez is in. I don't blog/IG/FB for my peeps. I do it for me. I'd rather have too many to look back on than not enough.

I also kinda consider myself our historian. I want the boys to be able to look back and enjoy seeing pics of everyday life, as much as they want to. I want them to see themselves at every stage. I want them to see Russ and I dating each other and taking silly pics with them.

I want my posts to fill in the blanks of their stories as best they can.

12/12

Remember when I gave Russ 12 dates for Christmas a year ago? Remember when the last you heard of this was 7/12? Remember when Russ got a job in August that claimed every weekend after that? Remember when I scheduled a ziplining date for the same month as hunting season so they said we couldn't go?

There's still 3-4 dates that are still waiting to happen, so we're not quite done. And for the record, we did date during the last 4 months, it just was same ol', same ol' type stuff we could do on a weeknight.

However, I'd been waiting and waiting for Decembers. The best for last!

We scheduled a reservation for a dining experience called Entre Underground. Russ used to work for the guy who runs it and we've always talked about going but never made it.

When you sign up, the menu and location are unknown. They change every time the event is held. The day of the event you get an email with both. To be honest, looking at the menu I was not very excited. I would never choose to eat 85% of what was listed. But nevertheless was excited for date night, especially right before Christmas.

Did I just eat purple cauliflower soup and freakin' love it? Did smoke just come out of that smoke infused cranberry with the foie gras creme brulee? What?

We showed up and to our surprise we were at the childhood home of T.S. Eliot. The owners gave us a the tour and then dinner started. That lasted 4 hours. And was without a doubt, the best meal I've ever eaten. The people at our table were fascinating, the food was perfection, the house amazing.

I can't say enough about this experience. It's an unforgettable evening, a great memory maker.

Wanna see me run in a full costume for 13.1 miles?

If you saw this post you know that I'm running another half. This time I'm using my commitment for good, for a bigger cause than justifying my ice cream habit.

As also mentioned before, my friend Erin and her fam are in the process of adopting from Uganda. It's oh-so-appropriate in a it-all-comes-full-circle kinda way that this is the avenue in which I'm offering her my help.

Erin taught me to run.

A gazillion years ago I was getting lazier and unhappy and Erin was the perfect friend in that season. She was an experienced runner and created a C25K for me before those existed. I couldn't even run for 3 straight minutes when Erin took me under her wing. My fav memory was her running next to me and I was CONVINCED I.was.dying and couldn't run the next ten seconds and she started SHOUTING AT ME in the park as loud as she could to KEEP RUNNING. People thought I was getting attacked. They called 911. (that part may be falsified.)

Now, 4 half marathons later, I have her to thank.

And now she needs my help. To bring home her son from Uganda.

Done and done.

Here's where you come in:

I'm running the half marathon here in St. Louis in April. I start training on Sunday. (12 week running sched, thankyouhalhigdon) Let me be clear: EVERY PENNY YOU DONATE GOES TO THEIR ADOPTION EXPENSES. I'm paying for the race out of pocket, etc.

You have three options:

1. Pledge $X.XX/mile of the RACE. (13.1 miles) i.e. $1/mile= $13.10, $10/mile would be $131.00 or anything in between or more or less.

2. Pledge a set amount.

3. Pledge nothing but run it yourself on my "team" and gather pledges from your peeps.


Here's where your entertainment comes in:
If I collectively raise:

$200: I'll wear silly socks
$500: I'll wear silly socks and a tutu.
$1000: I'll wear silly socks, a tutu, and something silly on my head
$2000: I'll wear a full costume of the donor's choice (there will be a vote) (appropriate choices only, duh.)


Contact me ASAP to join in the fun! katie l mohr @ g mail. Pledge commitments due by January 31. Pledge payments can come later.

Dream big! Er...somethin'...

I can safely say that the goals I made for 2012 weren't met. Not even close. However, progress was made and all in the home are happy and healthy so we're good.

With Russ settling in nicely to his new job, Dez getting more independent and Eliot rocking first grade I feel like 2013 has lots of potential.

I'm shooting big, peeps. Stealing/copying an idea from a friend (best copycat wins, remember?) I've set 12 goals for 2013. Some are on-going, some are one time shots. I'm hoping to be able to check one off a month. Realistically if I hit 6/12, I'm happy. Feel free to ask me how it's going throughout the year. Unless I look angry, then just tell me a funny joke and move on...

(Side note: posting this from my phone since my laptop is unwilling to help. Hope it looks okay...)

Another holiday tip (free of charge)(you're welcome)

Sometimes it takes a little more effort but try to be aware of the gifts you're giving and how they relate (or don't relate) to the gift receiver.

*
AKA: look for gifts that match the receivers race or ethnicity. It's easier now than it ever has been. Just takes a little extra thought and effort to grab one toy off the shelf vs. another.

*

*All actors were compensated** for their time.


**and by "compensated", I mean cups overflowing with goldfish crackers as previously agreed upon by this participant's actors guild.

Wanna get me a gift?

Many of you give extra this time of year and sometimes it's overwhelming to know where to give. I thought I'd add a couple options if you're still undecided.

Last year we received an adoption grant from Show Hope. They're a non-profit that awards grants to as many families as they have funds. Dez's adoption was paid off after the grant we received. Click here to donate.

If you'd rather donate to an actual adoption you can watch develop, I happen to know a few peeps going through the process. Weird, huh?

Erik and Jessa Anderson in CA adopting from Ethiopia! Click here to donate.

Bob and Erin Hansel in CO adopting from Uganda! Click here to donate.

Darrell and Kristen Vanzant in TN adopting from Honduras! Click here to donate.

In case you missed it, international adoption is crazy expensive. Each of these three families entered this process not having the funds but trusting God would provide and are now working their hardest to raise funds. We could not have completed either of our adoptions (even the domestic one) without the generosity of others, many of them strangers. Friends of friends. There's people we still meet now that are so excited to meet Eliot, letting us know they contributed. It humbles me. These were the hands and feet of Jesus to us then and even now as we watch E grow up.

Christmas was always a harder season for me as we were growing our family than even Mother's Day. The vacancy of the stocking I so desperately wanted was always looming in front of me. Help ease the wait for these families by contributing to their funds.

I'm secretly hoping to get an email or text saying "A donation was made in your honor to___".

Latergram

My fav Instagrams over the last 9 weeks...feel free to follow me at katielmohr! I'll steal a few from Russ' feed next! If you're not on IG yet, I highly recommend it. We're obsessed about it over here!