Mason goes to School

I can not tell you how excited I was to get a chance to do all of the cool mom stuff associated with your child starting school.  I have always been preparing for everyone else's children to start their new classrooms that I never got (or pre-planned) that stuff for Mason.  Honestly, I was lucky I remembered to get a photo each time of him in a new outfit.  So, this blog post is for my Bubbers and his first day of school.

We traveled to target last week for new school clothes, which is a day trip to Oklahoma City.  It was nice to leave Enid for the day, but we also realized there are much smaller towns we could have ended up.  We have been reviewing everything from school and watching LeapFrog on Netflix because my child is a visual learner.  We did our interview about Mason at this age and he made me tear up with some of his answers.  Photo shoot this morning, and then we were off to school.

Interview:

Mason at age 3…Vance Air Force Base Child Development Center

Teacher: Ms. Raven

Favorite color: Green

Favorite foods: Fishies and Corn Dogs

Favorite person: My dog Minnie

Other favorite people: Mommy, & Daddy

Favorite Song: Soft Kitty

Favorite thing to do: Scribble on the paper

Favorite thing to wear: Pilot clothes so I can go to work with my daddy

Favorite Friend: Mayhew and Stephen

New friend at Vance: Parker

Favorite toy: Ninja Turtles and their bad guys

Favorite thing to do with Mommy: Watch movies at movie theater

Favorite thing to do with Daddy: Kick him in the leg...fighting

Favorite thing to do at Vance AFB: The park and the BX

Favorite movie: Ninja Turtle Movies

Favorite TV Show: Super Hero Squad

Favorite place to visit: The Bergendahl’s

Favorite book: No David and Animal books

Favorite trip: The Mickey Cruise

Worst day ever: When daddy goes away to school

Something that makes you happy: When daddy comes back home

What I’m most thankful for: For Jesus

My favorite drink: Lots of juice

What I want to do at preschool: Maybe tape boxes

What are you nervous about: But I just don’t want to do my letters

What are you scared of: Monsters

When I was a baby. I: Say googoo gaga

What I want to be when I grow up: One of the Super Squad

 And first day pictures:

 

 

 

 

 

I'm gonna be in a craft show

So on Saturday I was able to attend a craft fair hosted by the Officer's Wives of Vance AFB.  IT was really nice and honestly reminded me of home a little bit.  Linda (mil) and I usually went to these this time of year with Grandma Ruth and all the other Hottel women who were in town.  It is amazing that no matter where you go, these events seem to be very similar.  Well, with the blazing exception of all the red state stuff was not wolfpack, but for OSU and all the orange was not Campbell, but OU.  It was nice to not see any blue teams in the crowd though (mwhahaha, wolfpack family).


I love walking around craft fairs.  It always makes me feel more creative and helps me see some crafting from a new angle.  However, if you are not the proud mother of a little girl...these things can be a bit depressing.  I am always so shocked that no one has come up with a cute idea to sell to mothers of boys.  Surely I am not the only one to have thought this.  One day I will have my Kyrie, and she will be decked out in a tutu and handcrafted bow daily, but until then I am trying to rock my little boy out in the cool stuff.

So, I though "Oh well" and moved on to look for items to buy the family for Christmas.  We found some cute Oklahoma special items that we bought for presents.  I hope you guys like it because all the stuff is locally made in Enid, OK under the tree this year.

Well, we walked out to our car after the show was over and there was a flyer on my car.  Apparently there is a a big craft show in Fairview, OK the weekend after Thanksgiving.  I was just shooting off at the mouth at Reid (which I do ALL THE TIME) and talking about all the cute things I could make to sell and how I would rock a booth if I had one and about how I could sell my adoption bags and how cute my booth would be (run on sentence necessary because I talk like that to him) when he told me that we had a little extra money from doing the move ourselves that he would let me invest into items to buy and have my own booth.  WHAT?  So, I don't do anything slowly...within minutes I had contacted the vendor contact and booked a booth, then online to buy some items for my boys shirts and items for boys that I knew where to buy at DISCOUNT to sell.  I had a packaging design in place within the hour and a booth design sketched out.  In case you didn't know this about the Hottel family, we don't do anything slowly...when we see a door open we dive head first into it because those are the times we are forced to rely fully on God and not ourselves.

So here I am with Reid going to Flight school on Wednesday and Mason and I are going to be crafting up a storm while he is gone.  We are going to create a booth display in the house and start making and adding items until the shop is complete.  I am so excited.  This is my moment to take my 5 talents that the Lord has given me and invest them to see a greater return.  We could easily slide that money over to savings for Kyrie and not think again about it, or I could invest it into these items and hopefully see a greater return that will allow us to pursue adopting our daughter that much sooner.

I am ecstatic, a.) I have something to keep me busy, b.) I am being active in pursuing my daughter to be brought home, c.) I am doing something to add to my families income/savings, and d.) I am getting to be creative, which I so desperately need on a regular basis.

So, once this craft fair is over, I have so many fun items that will be hitting the Etsy shop.  Let's hope that my Silhouette can hold up to what is in store for it, because I will be utilizing all of it's functions.  Seriously, Kayti thank you for introducing me to this crafting mecca that is the Silhouette.  So watch out mama's of little boys...there will be something for you very soon.

Ready to adopt again

So I have been working the last few weeks to prepare for our next adoption.  I think (KNOW) that this adoption is going to be very different than the last one.  Mainly because we cashed out our savings for Mason and I am no longer working.  So I  am getting creative.

• Etsy ~ I have created some birthday invitations on my shop to sell.  I miss the event planning part of my life, so hopefully I can help people plan from afar and get all the party ideas out of my head.
• T-shirt ~ Tracy and I spent a lot of time planning out the perfect t-shirt to raise funds and I think I have finally found it.  We decided to do one based on "The Red Thread" book concept.  I will be printing these soon, but trying to get an idea of interest before I start printing since I will be doing it one at a time on my Yudu screen printer.  

• Yard Sale ~ Military wives are organized, and luckily they have their own yard sale facebook site.  We have been getting rid of the stuff we don't need, like Reid's old suits for work.
• Saving ~ which goes without saying for an adoptive parent.

So, now comes confession time.  I ripped my heart open last night looking at the Rainbow Kids website and photo listings.  I always knew that Mason and his adoption was special and would never be duplicated.  He was healthy, and perfect, and bonded like a dream. Well, last night I opened myself up to HOW different the next adoption might be.  I was encouraged (unknown to her) by my friend Lisa and started looking at children with special needs.  I realized how simple a thing can be in the US that causes a child to be labeled as special needs in the US.  So many illnesses that are treated regularly in the US by a simple doctors visit or out patient operation.  Adoption is the only means these kids will receive what they so desperately need.  Yes medicine, but also a home and parents to hold them and let them know it will be OK and that together they can overcome.  So I am searching and praying and seeking God's will.  This adoption may not look like I had originally thought (because let's be honest adoption NEVER does) and so I am opening myself up to the journey.  A special needs child may mean that things are sped up exponentially, so my creativity is going to need to hyper drive.