Licensed, At Last

We were notified on Wednesday, April 25 at 2:05 pm that we were officially licensed! The call came from a lady who has years of experience being a foster parent and is now our foster parent mentor. Jesse actually did a loud “wooohooo!” on the phone to her when she called. By that time I was pretty sure I knew what the call was about.

Side note: We have to be very careful about sharing any personal information about “our” kids. We are allowed to share only very general facts and absolutely no pictures. Which is really a bummer because our first two little boys are just as cute as can be… you’ll have to take our word for it!

Blocks

We had been told to expect a call for our first placement very soon after we are licensed. And they weren’t kidding! We got a call just a few hours later and were asked to accept a little boy who was twenty months old. He was adorable! He had the best little smile and laugh. We were able to love on him less than twenty four hours before he was cleared to go back home.

We felt very good about how handled our first little one. At first he was completely silent, obviously scared to death, when he arrived at our house just after midnight. He got more and more comfortable as the next day went on. We kept him entertained and laughing, we fed him three super healthy meals which he gobbled right up, and held him close all day. His care manager came to pick him up just after dinner.

Funny story about our dinner with him… We fed him peas with dinner that night. Apparently he didn’t like peas. After trying one he started handing them to Jesse one by one. At first we thought he was being nice and sharing so Jesse kept saying thank you. Then we realized that he planned on handing us all them since he didn’t want them. When we just took the peas away he said thank you. So cute!

Even before our first little boy had left our house, we got a call to accept our second placement who was to arrive later that same day. A couple of hours later we welcomed another little boy who is two and a half years old. He is expected to stay with us for several months, but we never know for sure. We are loving each day that we get to spend with him. We definitely underestimated the amount of energy required to take care of this little man, so we are still working on figuring out how our new routine will go.

This little one loves to eat! So far we’ve only found one food that he doesn’t like… cucumbers. I had a bunch on his plate at lunch the other day. He kept going back and trying them, forgetting that he didn’t want them… and making a yucky face each time. He tried them at least four times so I know he really didn’t like them. The other surprising thing is how much he loves broccoli, he keeps asking for more when we have it. I love how easy he is to feed since he is more than willing to eat whatever we are eating. He is also super helpful too. He has made himself in charge of throwing away little pieces of trash while I’m cooking and loves to close every kitchen cabinet, pantry, fridge, or other door when we are finished with it.

Funny story about this little one… We are very amused by how much he loves to imitate every little thing we do. Since we’ve been spending more time outside now than we used to, I’ve been blowing my allergy nose more often. After watching me do that, he now loves to blow his nose too. He will go to the table, grab a kleenex, rub his nose, look at it and say “oooh, essussing!” (disgusting), and then run to the kitchen and throw it away. I guess I must make an essussing face when I blow my nose.

We are loving having him here, for sure!

Cystic Fibrosis Awareness Month

May is Cystic Fibrosis awareness month.

Did you know these CF facts?

  • 30,000 children and adults have CF in the United States.
  • More than 10 million Americans are symptomless carriers of the defective CF gene.
  • The disease occurs in one of every 3,500 live births of all Americans and about 1,000 new cases of cystic fibrosis are diagnosed each year.

I wrote last May about the history of CF, how people with CF are affected by germs, the special diet that many people with CF have to follow, and the treatments that people with CF do to keep their lungs as healthy as possible. Check out these posts or visit the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation to learn more about CF.

CF bandsAlso… we are still selling Cystic Fibrosis awareness bands for only $1.00. A portion of the money we raise is donated to the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation to help find a cure. Order one today and show your support with your purple band!

There are lots of other ways to raise money for CF research… I plan to share several other ways to help over the next couple of days.

Easter Bunny Cake Tutorial

This Easter bunny cake is a must-have around our house. My mom has made this every year for as long as I can remember. Each year, as we get older, Mom tries to think that she can get away with not making it anymore… but we always find some way to talk her into it. Of course, it has nothing to do with the true meaning of Easter, but it just wouldn’t be fun to celebrate with our bunny cake. Since this is just SO much fun… Mom said I could share her “secret” design so that you can impress your family and friends.

Start by covering a cookie sheet with foil, or finding some other type of serving platter that will be large enough. You will need to have your round cakes baked and completely cooled… best to bake them the day before.

Spread icing over the bottom, flat side of one round cake and stack them on top of each other so that the round sides are facing out… to give your bunny a round body.

Cut your cakes in half as set one half aside for a moment. Spread icing over the sides of the remaining cake half and position it near the back half of your cookie sheet.

Mom has designed templates to make the perfectly shaped bunny head and legs. Use the second cake half to cut out the shapes for the head and legs. Notice the bottom edge of the head is rounded to better fit against the bunny body.

Attach head to the front of the body and generously add icing to cover cake and fill in any gaps.

Using more of the second cake half, cut out the shapes for the the bunny legs.

The expert suggests using only a slice of the legs to make for a more proportionate bunny. Bonus: the middle part of the leg shapes provides an excellent cake to icing ratio for a little snack for the sculptor!

Once the bunny is assembled, finish icing the entire cake. The entire process of this cake may take close to two cans of icing with all the extra gaps there are to fill in. Some years we have added coconut to the bunny body to make it look like fur, but this near we had some people who were not coconut fans.

Lastly, add all the fun extras that really make the cake come to life! Use a few drops of green food coloring to turn coconut into grass for the bunny to sit on.

The finishing touches for the bunny include ears made with paper and a pink marker taped to tooth picks, extra tooth picks for wiskers, pink jelly beans for nose and eyes and a cotton ball tail. Add extra easter candy as desired for decoration.

Fun, fun, fun! And almost a completely edible craft for kids of every age. I’d love to see a picture of your bunny cake when you decide to make this!