Come on over

Hey all, I got the new blog mostly figured out and the basic skeleton is up and running. I want to make sure we dont lose anyone who doesnt want to be lost. So I ask if you are wanting to read our blog you will comment on the new blog, even if it's anonymously just to let me know that you found it all right. You dont have to say anything special, just that you made it. Thanks everyone. THe new site is called Mrs. Moon rambles and is at moonfamilytales.blogspot.com

..hope to see you there

Verdict is-

All right after a bit of research and thinking and talking to a few people I have decided somewhat what my plans are going forward with the blog. I will create a new one.....and I have decided I will stick with blogger. THere are pros and cons for all the different hosts, but to be honest...I am comfortable and familiar with blogger and since I am not fancy or planning on making money or having a mass following I think blogger will continue to fit the bill just fine. In my dream world my blog would have some pretty cool things, but its time I dont want to take to learn how to do and so Blogger's simplicity will work! With that said I will get a new blog created and let you all know the site info. as soon as that happens! I am still up in the air about some things like....instead of using Erik's full name calling him something else, those sorts of security things. I will link back to this blog I think for a bit and then take the link away. I want to have some sort of link with Erik's adoption story in it still keeping in a safe but informative manner to keep those involved protected but still let new visitors learn about his journey into our family! So dont worry I havent forgotten about this and am working on it. Also I did order a book for this blog to be printed. It was an investment that is worth it I think. I did a condensed version and its still 300+ pages! But its our life starting back in late 2007 so thats pretty good! For anyone who is interested I ordered the book on the website - www.blog2print.com And they even ship internationally for those who have blogs outside of America! I shipped mine to my parents house to keep the shipping costs lower and then when they sent a package they can throw it in. I would have shipped it directly to our APO but that wasnt an option, bummer. But it will still be cheaper I think than shipping internationally. And now I am rambling so I am off.... like a dirty shirt as my dad would say! I will be back soon to let you all know the new address Sommer

Help!

Hey everyone. I just got on to post and upload some pictures and blogger is saying I am maxed out my photo storage. I am trying to figure out if this is true....I guess I have had the blog since 2008ish maybe just before. Ideas and suggestions for alternate blog sites with good storage, etc. would be useful. Blogger did say that I could purchase more storage but I dont want to pay for anything if I dont have to. So pictures on hold until I get this sorted. Thanks in advance for your ideas suggestions. Oh and I must admit I dont condense my pictures in size anymore when I upload because our little netbook doesnt seem to do that and its more time than I want. Is that truly necessary? Sommer

chat time

Erik is getting to be quite the talker and although we share a lot of pictures we dont often share video. This one took me nearly half the day to upload but I know that it will be well treasured so I will start making the effort to get more video up. THe video started out pretty slow as he was pretty involved in playing with his "cloud dough" but then you get a tiny glance into his imagination and hear him talk pretty well. I didnt realize how shaky I was with the camera...my apologies. Also while Erik does a fairly decent aussie accent....I understand mine is completely horrible and only did it so that I could get Erik to do his accent. So aussies-I know I cant even try to begin to pretend that I have an accent.

Captain Erik

Erik is named after Lindsay's best friend who passed away in his early twenties. He is now called Junior on such occassions when both Erik's are being spoken of so as not to confuse. So Junior was given a bear that was found in Erik's (senior) apartment when his family went through his belongings. The bear is a pilot and dressed in traditional pilot get up with the aviation goggles, red scarf, leather bomber jacket and leather cap with ear coverings. Junior loves this bear and for some reason loves to undress him. Junior then takes his aviation goggles and places them on his own face and becomes a pilot. Quite funny and it will be a surprise to him one day when those goggles meant for a teddy bear won't fit on his big noggin! And yes Erik was a pilot - an alaskan bush pilot to be exact.....so junior is destined for aviation!

footy fanatics

Winter here this year has been rather what you would expect to see in the stub-tropics. Cool and rain off and on. The crazy thing to me is that its supposed to be the dry season but this year there has been plenty of rain! Good thing for here since there was a drought for so many years but I have felt like I was living in seattle and that is not what I wanted when I knew we would be living in Australia! Oh well. So in between the overcast rainy days are the beautiful perfect winter days. One day we found ourselves wander to the local rugby field to play some footy.

Erik actually used his money he had saved from chores to buy a footy ball holder thing. You know the thing that holds the ball so you can run up to it and kick it. I know the name of it but cant think of it. Anyhow the field was basically mud but we had fun anyway. We had taken a picnic lunch and I sat in the sun on the bottom of the bleachers trying to stay warm. It was colder that day than I expected. Although you cant tell because these two are males and naturally are warm and dont get cold easy. Maybe I am a wuss whose body has adapted to well to the tropical weather : )

 Working on lining up and getting feet in the right position to kick

 Practice swinging legs for kicks

 And there he goes....total airball but nice kick!

 Sweet shot, kicked it!

 Hi mom, cant stand here very long, sun is in my eyes.

Another good swing of the legs but didnt quite get the ball right.

 Food break, yummy deviled eggs and smiles

Practising the pass off. In real rugby lindsay wouldnt be laying on the ground but would be bent over and pas the ball under hislegs with his feet. Erik isnt quite coordinated yet to do this so this is how they pass off....lay on the ground and pass through the legs

Daddy tackle....and grab the ball upside down

And not a rugby pose but for all you gridiron (American football) fans here is your traditional football pose! Its not clear because I can hardly catch him while he zooms around but I kind of like that!

A family Drive In..

The pictures of this evening weren't anything huge but it was so fun, I just had to share. Lately I have been trying to think of ideas of how to let loose a bit with Erik. I think I often push him a bit hard and since he is an only child and who knows if more will come I want to parent him perfectly because it is my one shot. I know thats wrong and that is why I turned to our church for inspiration on how to help myself as a mother loosen up a bit, so he could enjoy things more and I wont freak out if he gets mud on his boots.

Ok, ok, its not that bad, but I definitely need to let up some slack. I need to let him take more risks and not always be so rigid about rules. While I was looking for guidance I found myself looking for things on our church's website. There is a section under relief society entitled Mother Education that I was keen to dive into, but my computer just wouldnt let me open the links. So then I decided to just check out the family section. I went under -wholesome recreation.....and behold I was filled with all sorts of inspiration. Basically after reading different quotes and articles from various church leaders...I decided one way I could let go and we could all benefit was to do some more things in our home, simple things! We do a lot of spontaneous things in our family. Lindsay is uber spontaneous and cant sit still for long so we often head out for adventure, but after reading I was realizing it is important to create tradition and fun wholesome recreational things in our home! I want all of our family to want to be home and be excited to do things, so I decided to a friday movie night with a twist.

 Family Movie night....drive in style. Now I didnt come up with this completely on my own, I have seen variations of this on the web, but it fit the bill. I told the family a couple nights prior of my plans and showed Erik how he was going to 'drive' into family movie night in the laundry basket. We were all stoked. It was amazing how something so simple gave even myself something to really look forward to at the end of the week.

The day prior when I was at the shops I let Erik pick out two bags of lollies and we got soda, which I never buy. Friday night we made dinner as a family (yummy macademia-coconut shrimp from this site), went and ran an errand, and then came home for drive in night. Because I allowed myself time to mentally prepare for this event....I had already decided I wasnt going to worry about Erik staying up too late, I wasnt going to harp on him for lolly intake and we would all just have a blast.

Blast we had! We watched Home Alone and it was fantastic! Erik loved watching the bad guys crash and get hurt (I love that he laughs out loud at movies)! We all had some sweets and enjoyed each others company! He stayed in his 'car' for about half the movie. I took the tray away for him after he finished his treats but it was still a bit cramped. Overall success and will be happening in our house again, I am already looking forward to the next one!

Another success- we figured out that night how to change our dvd player to read all regions dvds so now we can watch all our dvds  we brought over but have just stashed away! Win! The missionaries taught us that one-ha!