Our Adventures at the US Consulate

What an adventure it was to to navigate through the jungle of the US Consulate. We were late getting out of the hotel (what a surprise...) so we were rushing to get to our appointment. The consulate is located on the 20th floor of a high rise. You go through security at the bottom and then take an elevator up. Luckily since Landon is a US citizen we didn't have to wait in any lines. :) Problem was that the elevator was broken so a guard takes you from security back outside, and in through the front door and up another elevator and escorted to the second set of security. Down two long hallways, trying not to hit anyone with Collin's car seat due to the lack of walking room between the cubicle walls and the chairs lining the walls. We'd had to book two appointments (one for each child) but luckily the adjudicator agreed to work on both files at the same time. There was a family with children 6 months younger than both of my kids. Emily enjoyed playing with their son. After the first hour the adjudicator told me about a sitting room I could take the kids. (Did I mention that I totally forgot to bring toys and snacks for the kids? Yeah, I know) There were no toys, so Emily climbed. Picture of President Obama and Hilary Clinton almost knocked off the wall. Hmmmm. Not good. Collin tried to use the computer in the room. I won't go into all the things that happened but I will say I barely lasted a half an hour before we went back to Landon. It ends up we are missing two documents but they are going to allow us to mail them in. We waited another half an hour to meet with the consulate guy who had me swear that all the information I had put on the forms was true. I then asked about what kind of visa I should be looking into. After some discussion he sent me to see another person. It was there we received the good news. There was a faster, less expensive way for me to get permanent residency. See we have been married for more than two years (almost 7 years actually) and Landon has been living in Canada legally for more than 18 months (6 1/2 years). So we qualify for an I-130. We would need to fill out three forms, have a list of items (marriage certificate, birth certificates, passports, etc), and file the petition in person on any Friday between 2-3 at the consulate in Vancouver. It just so happened that we already had all the items with us because they were needed for the kids paperwork. At the last minute I had picked up my birth certificate in case I would need it. :) And we had already decided to stay a second night and so we were around Friday afternoon. Originally we had planned to be in Vancouver on Monday and Tuesday but do to exam week we had to go Thursday and Friday. When you trust in the Lord good things do happen!
My parents were able to get us the information we needed by Friday morning so we headed off to the consulate (after shopping at Toys R Us for Emily's new car seat). There was nobody there except two other young families and three other people. Much better than the day before. We made new friends and the kids loved having other children their age to play with. One of the couples is even planning on moving to Salt Lake City. :) We only had to wait an hour and half and received good news from our adjudicator. She told us to expect to hear from Montreal, Quebec in the next two weeks regarding what paperwork we need to send them. Did I mention that Landon and I have to fly out to Montreal for an interview? Yep, a "forced" vacation with no kids... :) The adjudicator told us that we had a pretty straight foreward case so she didn't see any reason why I wouldn't be approved within the next four to six months. Yippee!

Two and Three Birthday Parties for Emily

Party Two

Monday night we had a few family and friends come to my parents house to celebrate three birthdays. Emily, Pat (my dad), and Rosie Fluery. They all share the same birthday, the 28th. My parents, Steve, Matt, Ashley, Ethan, Sariah, Coe Family (Wes, Sheryl, Serena, Amy), Jim Corbett (Hope you are feeling better Margaret), and Darlene and Bill Norris all came to share in the cake, friends, and laughter. I made cupcakes and shaped them to look like a flower for Rosie and my mom made a "Wii" cake for my dad and Emily. Emily was spoiled with bubbles (Thanks Coes), cute crocheted hair elastics (Thanks Norris'), a New Year Cracker, and game (Thanks Corbetts), and 3 Loonies from Grandma and Grandpa Hull.

Party Three
Sadly Landon turned to me, at about noon, and said, "It's Emily's birthday and we haven't said Happy Birthday yet." Yeah we were so stressed about getting to the consulate on time that we forgot it was her birthday. She forgave us. A very nice, older couple gave her flashlight to play with while we waited (for 2 1/2 hours) at the consulate. They told her she could keep it since it was her birthday. We made it up to Emily, though. We took her to Chuck E. Cheese for dinner and fun. She LOVED it! She is still talking about the mouse with cheese. :) My friend Shawna came with her kids Amanda and Ben. I haven't seen her for two years. It was nice to visit. Emily ran from game to game. For those who don't know. Chuck E. Cheese is filled with all the games that they have in malls that your kids want to do but you don't want to pay for. They each take one token. I forgot my camera but one of the rides takes a picture while the car is "driving" (so I have one of Emily and one of Collin) and the another game is one of the sketch booths (so I have a sketch of Emily, myself and Collin.) When I get them scanned I will add them in. You receive tickets from the game when you "win" or for just participating. You can then "cash" the tickets in for prizes. Landon won most of the tickets playing the basketball game and also lifting Emily into the air for the jump rope game... :) But Emily earned 15 tickets on her own. She "bought" 2 sets of stickers and a sucker. She was in heaven. Her favourite games were riding a life size horse in the "Ken-chucky Derby" (All she had to do was pull on the reins to steer the horse), the ride where it simulated flying, and a simulated roller coaster. She loved that we gave her a handful of tokens and then she ran around, mostly without parental help, and put her money into which ever ride she wanted. It was hard to get her to sit down and eat her pizza. She picked out a chocolate cake and was so excited to blow out the candles. Since there was only six of us there was cake to take home which she wanted for breakfast. :) Happy Birthday to the sweetest little girl I know!

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

Happy Birthday Emily!

**This is a few days late. I brought my laptop with me on the trip but of course I couldn't find the power cord and the battery died.**

Happy Birthday to my Beautiful Three Year Old!

Emily is the heart of our home. She is energetic, loving, caring, good at sharing, creative, and thoughtful. She makes it so easy to love her. When I come in the door she squeals, runs to me, wraps her arms around me, says, "Mommy's home" and gives me a big kiss. She looks after her brother and loves him so much. I couldn't ask for a better big sister for Collin. I love you Emily and I hope that this is the best year ever for you!

Interesting Turn of Events

I was all excited to post that my kids are now US citizens but we were missing two pieces of information so they are holding the application until we mail them in. I did decide to ask about what paperwork I was going to need to file to be able to move to Idaho for Landon to go to school. It ends up being a good thing I asked. The way I thought I was supposed is only one way. There was a faster way that gives me permanent residence right away. It just takes 4-6 months for the application to be processed and then Landon and I will have to fly to Montreal for an interview. Yeah I mean Montreal, Quebec. :) But the process cuts years and money off the process. Miraculously, the only time they process the applications in Vancouver (because they have to be done in person) is Friday afternoons from 2pm-3pm. Good thing I decided to stay a second night and to catch the 5:00pm ferry home Friday night. And that I felt prompted to bring my birth certificate. The only down side is that I may or may not be able to cross the border while my application is being processed. In March when we try to go for our visit we will have to go to the border and pray that they say we can go. I will let you know how it goes tomorrow.

Oh How I love "free" wireless internet

I love that I am sitting in a hotel room in Vancouver surfing the internet. I am able to get the phone numbers and information I need from my email, check up on all my favourite blogs and be far away from home. How did I ever live without the internet????

Auction and Store for a Good Cause

If you are looking for some nice items or would like to find a way to donate to help out Haiti here are a couple of ways to do that.

Check out this auction, here, at This Moma Rocks.
or
Check out this etsy store, here, at Craft Hope for Haiti

1 Down 2 to go.... Happy Birthday Emily!

This year we will be in Vancouver at the US consulate for Emily's Birthday. (She is receiving her US citizenship for her birthday.) Because of this we have had to move around the birthday celebrations. Tonight she had her annual birthday party at the swimming pool with all of her friends. For journaling sake the following attended her party: Grandma and Grandpa Hull, Uncle Steve, Uncle Matt, Aunt Ashley, Sariah, Ethan, Robyn Scoville and Lucien Ervington, Sophia, Leif, Nicki, Megan, and Karissa Potesta, Mike, Maria and Hailey Essex, Theresa, Kalvin, Joshua, and Ellie Jensen, Pablo, plus our little family. (Emmy's friends are in bold, the rest are the accompanying adults.) It was so much fun. Everyone (minus me) swan for an hour and a half. I sat up the room and got all the food ready. Emily was so excited to have most of her friends there. The girls all got wings and crowns, while the boys just got crowns. The food was delicious but Emily was impatient to eat her cake.

** I interupt this to talk a little about the troublesome cake. I had this great "simple" idea to do for Emily's cake. I was going to make one like Tinkerbell's ship using fondant. Yeah than reality hit. I didn't get home Friday night until 9 pm and I had visiting teaching until 11 am on the day of the birthday party. So my mom came to rescue. Made cupcakes, a rice crispie three tier cake, and fondant. All I had to do was put fondant on and decorate. Yeah wasn't able to get it to work. So I iced the cake, purchased little figurines from all the shows Emily loves. Made coloured sugar and put some fun circles and starts on the cake. Emily asked if she could put the toys on. I made a W to represent Wonder Pets, a toodles to represent Mickey Mouse Club, wrote Dora and George to represent the four missing shows. Forgot about Blues Clues until right now... Emily loved it. Martha Stewart it and I am not but my daughter kept clapping her hands, giggling and saying, "Tank you mommy, tank you." So I am satisfied.**

We lit the candles and sang Happy Birthday. My dad forgot to video tape it so we did it over again. (Emily watches her birthday song all year long.) We cut up the rice crispies and handed out cupcakes. Emily sat in a rocking chair and opened her gifts. She was so cute because she would hand out the gifts to her friends so they could open gifts too. Then she went around the room giving each of her friends a hug, saying Thank-you and giving them a goodie bag. Everyone played for a little while longer and then headed home. My parents and my family went out for Chinese Food and now Emily is happily tucked into bed. Life is good!
Enjoy the pictures and video...

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

Surround Sound

I have Landon to my left playing Lego Indiana Jones on the XBox 360.
I have Emily to my right playing Lego Indiana Jones on the Nintendo DS.

What a night!

Wonder Pets are here to save the day!

(I walk in to hear Emily singing this)

"The phone
The phone is ringing
There's animal in trouble
There's animal in trouble
Wonder Pets are on the way..."

It was so cute to hear her singing the Wonder Pets little song.

If you've never seen them, you are truly missing out!

My Canadian Girl

My mom, Stephen, Emily and I went to a hockey game tonight. Emily loved it. She loved the skating, hockey players jumping onto the ice, and the hockey puck flying back and forth. She ran and laughed. Made new friends. Since I have taken her skating she loves to give advice to anyone out on the ice. "Watch out, its slippy!"

I forgot my camera yet again. One day I will get a picture of her grinning out at the ice. Yep, she is Canadian... :)

Perception

An event today helped me put a few things into perspective.

I do not have any real trials in my life.

I realize this now.

At least not compared to my student who came today to me today. Imagine living with a physical disability which limits your height, leaves you with subtle differences in your facial features to those of your peers, and lower cognitive ability. You are prone to be quick to anger and are working so hard each day to build your social skills and tame your anger. You think you are friends with a girl and then someone informs you that she thinks you are creepy. And to top it off your father, who you have always looked up to, suffers from MS and now has to use a walker to be able to walk. Your parents are divorced and DO NOT get a long. As my student confided in me with tears running down his face I realized I do not know what trouble is. I am so blessed. I have known this student since I moved back to PR. I have watched him grow and struggle. What an example he is to me.

May I always remember my blessings.

It's that Time of Year Again

You get what you need when you need it...

This last week has been a hard one for me. There have been a few incidences at work that have left me with a strong urge to, well, um quit. Mostly they involve a parent of one of my students and the student. I can honestly say that I have put the student and what is best for them first at all times this year but the parent and the student do not agree. I have a past history with this parent as I taught this student for 4 years. In conversation, she quickly becomes upset and begins to belittle, be condescending, rude and use four letter words. As she tends to become very personal, I will admit my feelings get hurt. And I am also a little scared of her because about 3 1/2 years ago she called my superintendent and accused me falsely of some horrible things. I had to defend myself and my principal and vice principal had to get involved. All while I was pregnant. Yeah, lots of tears and ice cream. I had hoped to get through the year with only one confrontation and since we had one in November I was hoping for a good year. Yeah, nope. By the time she was through with me on Monday I was sure I didn't know how to do my job. (Doesn't help that I don't usually work Mondays and was a little resentful to be called in to work for the day.) Tuesday didn't get any better. Second phone call, worse than the first, at 9:15 am. Afterwards I walked into my office and cried. One of the student support staff (SSA) let herself into my office and gave me a hug. She had listened to my side of the conversation and was able to tell that it hadn't been a pretty conversation. She said some very nice things, bolstered me up so that I could face the rest of the day. As Emily ran in to my room with my mom and Collin, at lunchtime, I realized that the Lord was giving me the boost to make it through the day. Emily ran in, told me she loved me, gave me a hug and kiss, then asked where the blocks were. I really do love her. My mom and Landon (when he arrived to pick up the kids) sat and listened as I cried and told them about my morning. Minutes after they left one of my students became angry when I told him he wasn't allowed to punch another student, even though they are friends and were "just playing." He came unglued on me (which is a little scary since he is 6' 3" and quite strong.) He started swearing at me but sat in the chair I had directed him to. He wouldn't follow the behaviour plan though so I had to go and get the vice principal. He pushed his chair over but did go to the office. Once he had calmed down he came back and apologized. I was drained. I just wanted to curl up in a ball and never wake up. All I could think about was how I was failing to accomplish what my mandate was. Programs haven't been written. There are days that I barely keep my head above the water. My poor children and husband. I was not good company Tuesday night. Then came Wednesday. I was drained. The day went well until the plan put in place for this student (with the crazy mother) fell apart. So I ended up in with the vice principal trying to problem solve again. Decision was made to have a meeting with the mom next week. (I won't even talk about how that is making me feel.) The vice principal is going to run the meeting but still.... I asked if maybe I could be present over a teleconference. Nope. I was looking forward to going home but nope, staff meeting. I wanted to scream. Then I realized it wasn't really a staff meeting. It was a goodbye party for three staff members who were leaving. One to another school district, one is going home to Australia, and the other was retiring. The person retiring was the SSA who had comforted me. She has had my back all year. Helpful and caring to everyone. I am really going to miss her. As I stood against the wall, really not feeling apart of anything and wanting to be home, Lorraine stood to give her farewell "speech." She talked about the last 29 years that she has worked in the school system, assisting students with special needs. She talked about all the people she had me. And then she turned to me. She thanked me for coming to Brooks and making her last semester here great. She told everyone in the room how lucky they all were because of the energy, enthusiasm and ideas I brought to our staff. I bawled. A lot. Afterwards at least 3 staff came to let me know that they appreciated me. I was so humbled. I realized that when we are at our lowest of lows, the Lord is always there for us. He knows what we need. I am grateful to those people who followed the prompting and have literally changed my life. I know that no matter what is thrown at me, by people who don't think that I am doing enough, that there are people that believe that I am.

**The reason I changed the colour scheme on my blog to this bright colour with flowers is because I think at this time of year we all need a colour pick me up. January needs a little more colour.**

Oh No

I put Collin in time out for biting his sister and this is what I came back to find. (He was in time out for the time it took me to walk out of the room and get the camera and come back. Not even a minute.)


I think it is time to lower the bassinet.

Look at those Chompers! Due to his new found love of biting his nickname has been changed to Chunky Chompers! (Instead of Chunky Monkey)

New Years Eve

We had a family New Years Get together at Matt and Ashley's house. Ashley was actually out of town until 8:30pm when she came home on the last ferry. She was very nice to let us all crash at her house. My mom made a fantastic dinner and Matt provided the movie, The Blind Side for our viewing entertainment. Fanatstic movie! Afterwards we sat, talked and watched some Corner Gas. (Hilarious Canadian comedy, which I had never seen until that day when there was a marathon on TV.) Lots of laugh and fun. Landon wasn't feeling very well but he was a good sport and came down for the countdown to midnight. The kids played really well together. Ethan and Sariah went to bed at 10pm like good kids. Mine passed out at 11:45pm. Of course. :) I provided the New Years bubbly and the snacks to help us make it to midnight. (Mmm artichoke dip) Here are some fun pictures from the night.

Collin jumping on Ethan's horse


Everyone minus Pablo and the kids (I love how Ashley and Steve are sitting in Ethan and Sariah's cute chairs)


Emily at Midnight


Collin at Midnight


Ethan and Sariah at Midnight

Walking? Already?

This was Collin on New Year's Eve. Not full on walking but still, WHAT!!!! I'm not ready! I love how Pablo is racing Collin.

Sewing, Anyone???

I LOVE the tutorial found here for this skirt. I am considering making Emily and I matching skirts. What do you think?

My Hair Style!

(Collin has just grabbed Emily's hair and pulled out a handful.)
Emily: "Coyin, let go my hair style!"

Too cute!

FYI Emily lays her head down where Collin can grab her hair.

I met up with a friend from high school this week, Amber Kenmuir, to catch up on all that has happened in the almost two years since we've seen each other. The first question she asked caught me off guard. She asked if I felt any different now that I was a mom. I quickly answered that the weird part is that I didn't feel any differently. Actually there are plenty of time I feel like it isn't even real. I know that I carried both my children for full term pregnancies, delivered them but still it is surreal that I am a mom. The only time I really feel different is when they are sick or hurt. It is gut wrenching to watch your child sick or hurt and you are powerless to help them. Sure I can give out doses of tylenol and ask for priesthood blessings on their behalf but not the pain and discomfort. I worry that they might get sicker and what if I lose them. I ache for every mother that I know and don't know personally who has lost a child. At those moments I would literally give anything to take away their pain. I love being a mom. I wouldn't change it for the world. It has changed the direction in my life from one of selfishness to one of selflessness. I have a better understanding of the love my Heavenly Father and my elder brother Jesus Christ have for each of us. There are many days that the word "mom" coming from my daughter's mouth makes me cringe because I just want five minutes to myself. But out of all the jobs that I do and everything I have done so far in my life the title of Mom is what I hope defines me most of all.

Out of the Running Already

Every New Year, since Emily has been born, I have promised myself that this year I will try and be a better mom. At work we laugh about how long we think we will stay in the running for the Mother of the Year award. I want to announce that I am officially out of the running and the first day of the New Year hasn't finished.

These are the facts: Collin is just slightly obsessed with a picture on our computer desktop. He likes to sit and "chat" at the picture. I was trying to do something else so decided to occupy his attention letting him have his chat. I pushed the chair up close and was stuff pillows and blankets to fill up the space up to the computer desk. As I was grabbing the last pillow to make it as safe as possible Collin launched himself at the screen, totally missing the desk... with his hands but not his face. I pick him up put him against my shoulder to soothe him only to pull him away and see blood all over the shoulder of my white USU shirt. (Which by the way is the same shirt Emily bled all over last Christmas when she did a face plant at my in laws house.) The bleeding stopped but I bet he will have a nice fat lip in the next few hours. Yep, I am totally out of the running.

Here is the picture that robs my son of all his common sense:


Can you blame him? They are pretty darn cute girls. I think its time to change the picture. I'll just print it off to him, laminate it and let him carry it around with him all day. Is that what they call supporting a habit??