Our Family Happenings

May is already over. I can’t believe it. I have only written a few posts that never got published due to me never finishing them. Sometimes it is hard to write your thoughts and explain them in a tangible form. June is another hard month stretching ahead. To fill you in on our May happenings, here is a recap of all the adventures we had.

Jason

Oh Jason, how I love him! He is awesome, although sometimes can get a little too determined to get things done. He amazes me with how focused he can stay. He has been training for his next spartan race that happens in July. I think everyone on his team is just as amazed at I am with how dedicated he is in his training. If only I could be more like that, I would get a lot more done every day.

Jason has started repainting our walls in our house (I hate painting). He also got the ball rolling on getting new carpet and guess what?! We have beautiful new carpet! Our house may stink a little because we’ve only had it a couple of weeks, but the soft wonderful goodness on your feet just can’t be beat! We’ve done so much to our house since we moved in. It has been fun, stressful, and lots of work but totally worth it. We love our home.

Carter

My little cutie met a new friend

My sweet little boy has grown and learned so much. He sadly attended the last couple of weeks of preschool and proudly declared every day, “Mommy, I’m going to be in Kindergarten!” As we watched his preschool graduation program, I could not help but feel sad that this stage with my little sidekick was over. Why does growing up have to be so painful? Even when I enjoy each moment, I still want more. More time with my baby.

Last day as a preschooler

My adorable graduate

A couple cute fellow graduates

Carter with his teacher

Just before graduating preschool Carter did another grown up thing. He learned how to ride his bike with out training wheels and has been obsessed ever since. Sadly, we don’t have a story about running next to him, pushing him off, letting go and having him try things on his own only to fall and try again. Carter just got on a bike while I was picking him up at preschool and there he went. He just hopped on a bike with out training wheels and took off. My little boy suddenly became older, more independent at the very moment. He hardly lets a moment pass to make sure he lets me know that I remember he can ride a bike with out training wheels. 

Ahhhhhh!!!

Clarissa

Well, I haven’t been up to too much except being sad over my little buddy growing up and getting bigger. I was training for a half marathon, and that didn't take up as much of my time as it should have. I thought for sure I was going to walk at least half of it. Well, I finished in half the time I thought I would and my little buddy ran across the finish line with me! It was awesome!!!

I did it! Yay!

Preschool pick up... we had a surprise visitor 

  

I have still been teaching sweet little Chinese children and I love it more and more every day! I have about 15 regular students now and have new ones almost every day. It makes me so happy to see their faces light up and get excited when they see me in class. I never thought I could love teaching even more than I do… but it’s possible and I love teaching. Doesn’t getting up at 3 am every morning say that? Ha it’s so worth it!

My cute assistant 😍

Adoption

Oh, how interesting life is. It never goes the way as planned and can be both painful and blissful along the way. Our adoption story hasn’t been very eventful. I had hoped that maybe everyone we talked to was wrong and somehow, we would be blessed with a child right away. After having an awful experience with a made-up story about children that we long to have, I have lost a little bit of hope. We will be giving it a few more months and then joining an agency which will guarantee us a baby with in a year’s time. Let’s just hope little Carter gets a brother that he has been longing for.

He's my monkey <3

Well, here is to a great summer with many adventures! Happy reading!

We went to a balloon releasing for our girls

Life is Always an Adventure

Do you ever wish you could be super mom/ super women? I do all the time. I wish I was able to get everything done I ever had on a to do list. I wish I could keep up on my hobbies, while taking care of children and getting all those errands run. I wish I was so much better at keeping up on this blog and only had to have about 2 hours of sleep a night. That would be amazing! But here we are… I usually don’t have any time for my hobbies (at least I don’t always make time), there are days when even my one little kiddo is a handful for me especially while running errands. I need about 10 hours of sleep but usually only get about 4 or 5. Oh yeah… and I’m terrible at blogging. I’ve started this post about 546578516 times, only to start it all over again because multiple days have passed and I have gotten distracted by something else EVERY SINGLE TIME! I’m currently writing this while I wait for a student to show up to class, so we’ll see if I end up getting distracted.

Carter with his little buddy Bruno

Well… here’s all the happenings of the Osborns in the last month and a half. My little bundle of joy even turned 5 on Tuesday and I didn’t even make time to blog about it. Sad day.

March

We didn't have as exciting adventures in March, but we tried to make the most of being home together. We played in the snow, Jason finished another spartan race, we met incredible people, and we registered Carter for kindergarten! I have been teaching like a crazy person too, which I have absolutely LOVED. Yes it is at crazy hours in the morning, but I love getting my teaching fix and being able to stay home with Carter. The most incredible thing we did however, was talk to Carter about adoption. We are excited, scared, eager, and hopeful about having a possible birth mother place a baby with our little family. 

And they're off to do Spartan Race #1 of the Trifecta

Jason at the Spartan Race

Carter has been asking about "his baby" every day. We always imagined having a house full of sticky little hands. We imagined so many little siblings for Carter to love and play with. I know that our Heavenly Father has a great plan for our family. We have a strong feeling that our little family is not complete yet and would love help and support as we go through this roller coaster. We have an adoption profile on adoption.com. Here;es the link so you can take a look https://adoption.com/profiles/osbornfamily. If you know of a birth mother who may be looking for a family to place her baby with, please share our story. Share our name and our profile. Please help us in this great journey to find a baby we can care for and love as our very own. 

April

Getting ready for an Easter egg hunt

It was pretty eventful

Carter dying Easter eggs with his friends

Thus far, April has been an eventful month. It has been a crazy month of birthdays and reminders that we are all getting older. My birthday was on the 7^th, and I got spoiled by the 2 sweetest guys ever! I wasn’t allowed to lift a finger and help with chores. My boys took me to the best restaurant EVER, The Cheesecake Factory, and then they surprised me with Robin Hood the play. I got visits by lots of sweet friends, tons and tons of birthday wishes and messages, and I even got a few phone calls. It was a great day.

A couple days before my birthday we went to the Aquarium with some friends

Carter loved holding a butterfly

Selfie at The Cheesecake Factory

3 days later, my mommy heart hurt when my amazing 4-year-old boy turned 5. I can’t believe my baby Carter is already 5 years old. Every year my heart hurts a little more. He won’t be my little buddy for forever, and that makes me so sad. Next year he’ll be running off to kindergarten every day, leaving me with an empty house and memories of the time we had together at home. I don’t know if anyone would understand how much my little boy means to me. I mean yes, every mother loves each of her children dearly. When you’ve gone through as much as our family has with 1 little by your side through it all; that bond is even stronger and it’s a million times harder to let go.

My big 5 year old showing me his awesome 5 year old tricks

For his birthday I spoiled him. He got to bring treats for preschool, we went to Chick-Fil-A for lunch (his favorite place), and the rest of the day was his to do whatever he wanted. We ended up playing in the sand at the park for 3 hours and having macaroni and cheese for dinner! The rest of the night he spent playing with neighbor friends until it was time for bed. It was a pretty fun day.

He played in the sand for forever

Carter was so excited about his presents, he didn't know how to smile

His favorite gift was from his Grandma

April is always going to be a hard month for us. Not only is it when Carter turns another year older, but it’s also Shanna’s birthday. I thought her birthday would be a super hard day. It is, but the days leading up to it are just as hard. There isn’t a day that goes by that I don’t think of her. She’s everywhere in our home no matter how much we try to change it. My heart aches every day to hear the little sounds she used to make just one more time. I would give anything to have her little grunts keep me up all night. I would give anything for Carter to have his little sister back.

Well, it’s another day. Another day for second changes, and to make the best of my time with my little man.  We recently saw Jumanji for the first time, and a line from it has often popped in my head. We’re only given 1 life to live. With that life we get to chose how we want to live it. Make the best of the time you have here. For we never make it out alive. Happy reading! Have a great weekend!

Carter found some flowers at the cemetery to put on his sisters' graves

Another Adventure

Time is a funny thing. When you want it to go slower, it just races by. When you want it to go faster, it crawls by. I can not believe it is already March. I've been a terrible blogger...

Well, what's up with the Osborns?... we've been plenty busy with the everyday rush, but have had special moments and adventures in between. 

In January, we had great moments with family and even snow! In one weekend my cousin got married (I didn't take any pictures), and another cousin was blessed. It was so wonderful to be surrounded by extended family, and celebrate with them on each occasion.

Eden's baby blessing

Carter and his buddy

He was so excited for snow!

 He even helped daddy shovel the drive way

February was a great month! Carter has been growing up so fast. This stage with preschool and all the fun things we're able to do is great! It's so hard for me to think my little baby Carter will be in kindergarten next year!

Carter trying to be like grandpa with his sunglasses

Carter got to go on a field trip to the police station

He made a snow ball 

 On February 16th we attended a special event for Intermountain Healing Hearts. The BYU hockey team dedicated their last game to heart heros and heart angels. The best player of the team wore a jersey with Shanna's name on it. He even scored a goal for her during the 3rd period! Carter thought it was so awesome to be there. He loved spotting number 26 and yelling " There's Shanna!" Oh how we miss our little Shanna.

My boys at the hockey game!

 We loved watching the game together

Number 26! Thank you Tate!

 After our exciting hockey game, we got ready for a big adventure. Jason and I packed up for a week in Hawaii, while Carter's last sleep before going to grandma's house commenced. I was excited to spend a week in paradise with my best friend, but dreaded the time to leave Carter. I don't know why I was so worried, he was just fine and had a blast!

 This sums up Carter's stay with cousins lol

We had to get some sweet new shades 😎

 After saying goodbye to Carter (yes, I cried), we drove to Seattle. We had a few hours before having to go to the airport, so we took our time exploring. We had lunch, walked around Pike Place Market, and couldn't wait to be in 80 degree weather!

 Seattle, in the freezing cold

 Hawaii was incredible! I never imaged how beautiful and amazing it could be. It made it even better when we got pictures of our snow covered home. We loved our time there and didn't want to leave. I even told Jason, let's go get Carter and stay for another week or two. If only we didn't have something called work and obligations.

Our first 3 days were spent on Oahu. We mostly did tours and attend the temple there. Each day we were out and about by 8am at the latest. I didn't want to waste a second of our time there!

 We toured BYU Hawaii

This is us on a hike

Apple bananas we picked. They were yummy!

 Horse back riding on the beach

We even got to do a temple session

Pearl Harbor was an amazing place of history

Crazy colored trees at the Dole plantation

The Polynesian cultural center was amazing!

 We had to get a pic by the temple during the day

 Our time in Oahu seemed like a blink in time. We were sad to say goodbye, but we were off to Maui and had a blast there too! We loved whale watching, snorkeling, hiking, running, eating, exploring, and chilling on the beach. We will forever remember our first time in paradise.

 After whale watching and snorkeling

Walking on the beach in Hana

We got to see sea turtles!

 Twin falls hike

Jason holding a chameleon 

Walking down the path to the zip line

Jason zip lining

The banyon tree in Lahiana

Our trip could not have been more perfect. My favorite days were the days we hung out on the beach and went snorkeling. We made great friends with the people we stayed with, and enjoyed our time laughing and getting to know them. 

With a red eye flight back to Seattle, I found myself realizing how much I missed Carter. Life is just not the same with out children. Especially with out our third musketeer. He had such a blast with aunts, uncles, cousins and grandparents, but I think we were all ready to be home again. 

Well, hopefully you hear more from us before too long. Have a happy March, and make it great! Every moment counts.