The end of the pathetically long posting drought

All right, I admit I am a slacker and haven't posted, but the real problem has been writers block, or internet user block. Even now I struggle to complete a sentence, so you will have to just look at the pictures from the last little while...
Amy and Athena at Squaw Peak after the BYU vs. Wyoming football game.
Fiona, Conlan and Athena playing with virtual sand at the Arizona Science Center.
Athena and Conlan playing with the virtual sand. This exhibit is really cool.

Athena's First Day of Kindergarten

My baby is growing up. Athena started Kindergarten 2 weeks ago. I have had a little trouble with the whole thing, but mostly just feeling left out of this part of her life. The campus is closed, so I have to just drop her off on the curb and watch her walk through a fence and hope she has a good day. I miss being able to talk to her teacher everyday and meet the kids in her class like I could when she was in pre-school.

I also miss having a second person in the car, not being able to use the HOV lane is frustrating. I hate being stuck in traffic and watching cars zoom by in the HOV lane, it is like pouring lemon juice over my already tender wounds of separation from Athena.

The school is having an icecream social on Wed. and i can't wait to meet some of the kids in her class. The kindergarten classes are also having a recital, probably to increase the attendance at the ice-cream social and the book fair. I will try to post a short video clip of the recital.

New Phones

Tim finally bought my birthday present today!!! We are the proud new owners of iphones. Now I have to figure out how to import all my contacts, and take the time to type in email adresses.

Our Dear Birthmother Letters are done!!!

We have printed, glued photos and signed 102 Dear Birthmother letters and we are ready to send them to the agency office tomorrow. Our website should be linked on Friday! We are so excited to be done with this step in the adoption process, now we have to be patient as we wait to hear from birthparents.

Visit our website, and pass it on to anyone you know who might be interested.

Family Picture Atempt #4

Disneyland with the Daveys

Yo. This is Tim here to relate the great time we all had earlier this month at the Happiest Freaking Place on the Whole Planet (A.K.A. Disneyland).

So, we really did have a lot of fun. It was great because we went with Kendra, Sean and the kids, which made it way more fun for the kids as well as the adults.

Athena loves playing with Fiona and Conlan. As far as the adults, we all get along great together too. I know I love having Sean to pal around with. I think Kendra and Angela are more sane together, actually. They then have each other to help cope with what idiots their spouses are, or something like that... :-)


For Sean and I, things are more simple. Despite the price, we are just really happy they serve beer in California Adventure.










Seriously, we Lorenzens are incredibly lucky to have the Daveys. We always have fun. We have travelled together all over the place and we always seem to create great memories together.

Kendra and Sean, we love you guys and let's think of a new place to go soon, OK? :-)

Disneyland (of Course)

We went to Disneyland the weekend of June 7-8. We had a great time...

Thenes is pretty cute, huh? :-)

Cookin' in Idaho

Angela and I mixin' up something good to eat during our Memorial weekend camping trip up to Idaho.

Spring Concert

Athena's school had a spring concert last Wednesday. Athena looked so beautiful, and the concert was great. Here are a few clips of the show.

Getting out of the heat

The other day was so hot and we were bored at home. We decided to go bowling to get out of the house, and stay out of the heat. The bowling alley was a popular destination on a hot Sunday afternoon and we had an hour wait for a lane. We spent the time in the arcade, playing games together. Athena didn't quite get Ski Ball, but she was a natural at the motorcycle race.
Athena also had a hard time bowling, until we figure out that they have a ramp little kids can use to launch their balls. Athena actually got a strike once she started using the ramp and a heavier ball.

Thena and Rianna

Cannonball!

Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day to me. I wrote this post last week, but it wiped out before I saved...so I will post it now. I had a terrific Mother's Day. Tim and Athena made me breakfast in bed (French toast with strawberries and whipped cream, and sausage.) I am normally the first person up on the weekend, so Athena told me the night before that I had to stay in bed. It was kind of fun to sit upstairs and listen to the sounds of Tim and Athena cooking together. Along with breakfast, Athena and Tim also gave me cards, a beautiful butterfly sun catcher that Athena made, emerald earrings, and and emerald & diamond journey necklace.

The best part of Mother's Day was Athena's excitement, and how she and Tim conspired and cooperated to make it such a special day.

We spent the afternoon celebrating with Tim's family at Wendy and Rob's house. We had brats and barbeque pork sandwiches. We had fun watching the Jazz beat the Lakers and swimming in the pool.

Dancing Fools

When we were down in Tucson, there was a big party with dancing for one of Kendra's neighbor's birthday. This was the unfortunate result...

Lorenzen's Out

This is all of us out to dinner at Baci Italian Bistro, our favorite Italian place. Pretty handsome family, huh? :-)

Angela Inside "Childhood Dreams"

At the Phoenix Desert Botanical Gardens, we saw the sculpture "Childhood Dreams" by Patrick Dougherty. Created from willow branches, Angela appreciated the work it would take to weave since she loves to weave baskets.

Tim Looking Goofy

Tim is totally convinced he looks totally weird in this picture, but Angela is so convinced she looks fantastic that it had to be posted.

This was a day at the Phoenix Botanical Gardens. We had a great time, especially the butterfly exhibit..

A Day In the Park

We went to the park with Kendra's family and a bunch of friends when we were down in Tucson

Angela and Tim

Angela and Tim when we went out for lunch with Grandma and Grandpa Lorenzen last weekend...

Playing Rock Band

The weekend of the 26th of April, we were down in Tucson visiting Kendra (Angela's sister) and her family. Kendra has...Rockband! So the whole family got in the act and we had a GREAT time...

D.C. Cherry Blossoms

Here we are in with the beautiful cherry blossoms behind us...

DC Phone Chat

This is Athena chatting with her Aunt Amy outside the Natural History Museum on the mall in D.C.

Embracing the Milk Allergy

Athena is now more than 4 1/2 years old and it seems that she will never grow out of this milk allergy. It hasn't been that hard to accommodate her allergy, but I either have to find a substitute for milk products, go without certain food items, or make her a separate meal. So often she is denied food that the rest of us are eating because it is made with milk.

Kendra and I have continued the tradition of making candy Easter eggs every year. We all love them, but they are made with sweetened condensed milk, so Athena has always been denied the opportunity to enjoy one of these sugary confections. This year I finally had a mental breakthrough and decided to find a recipe for sweetened condensed SOY milk. Thank goodness for the internet, I found quite a few recipes and decided to give one a whirl. The next challenge was finding powdered soy milk, and after being on hold for several minutes with various stores in Tucson I finally found some at Sunflower market.

The soy eggs turned out pretty well, and in a semi-blind taste test were found to be slightly different from the eggs made with regular sweetened condensed milk, and perhaps a little better. All the eggs turned out a little different than usual because we used Athena's soy margarine, rather than Blue Bonnet. But they were all pretty tasty.

Tonight I made beef stroganof with all sorts of substitute products so Athena could eat it. I substituted ground chicken for the ground beef (less fattening), fresh mushrooms for canned (just what I had on hand), soy cream of mushroom soup (not condensed, but it was still okay), and soy sour cream. It turned out pretty good, considering all the substitutes. Athena however would not eat it. She doesn't like mushrooms, and was not willing to look past them. At least I should get good parenting karma for trying to make a meal that she could eat.

Family Pictures

I have finally been inspired to post something new!! We took family pictures today for our adoption letter, and I like how a few of them turned out. I thought I would post my favorites.

Nothing New

I often log into my own blog and find myself disappointed that there is noting new to look at. I say to myself "Duh, you are the only one who updates this." I really have to figure out how to give Tim publishing rights to our blog so he can start adding a little content.

Today is February 12th, and I cannot believe that February is almost half over. Tomorrow night we have to finish the Valentine cards for Athena's class, and of course I didn't just pick up a box of cheep cards that Athena can just write her name on and be done with it...I have to come up with some grandiose foamy craft project. Sometimes I wonder why I make life so hard on myself. Why didn't I just buy 20 little boxes of conversation hearts? Kids love those things (or at least I love them). No little kid is going to oooh and ahhh over these foamy Valentines. I could have spent $1.00 for a box of cards, and 15 minutes with Athena as she wrote her name 20 times, but instead I spent an undisclosed amount of money (omitted so Tim never realizes how much I actually spent) and a few hours trying to figure out how to make these things in such a way that Athena can actually help make them, besides just writing her name on the bottom of the card.

I tell myself, "Next year. Next year I will just take the easy way out. Next year I am going to remember how crazy this was. Next year Tim is in charge of Valentines Day."

I came across this picture as I was looking for photos for our adoption profile. It was taken at the Phoenix zoo last summer. I love it. Athena was eating dark chocolate, which was all melty because it was most likely 110 degrees. I love my little family!

Imagination Play

Athena has a terrific imagination. The other night we were driving home and she carried on a multi-character dialog for about 10 minutes. She changed her voice for each character, and the conversation was fascinating. I wish I could have recorded those few minutes.

Tonight she is acting out her other role playing that she made up one night when she was bored and lonely. She made up three characters: Mikayla, a little girl about 5 years old; Mikayla's Mother, and Mikayla's grandmother.

One night I was cooking dinner and I was visited by a really short old lady (Athena came down the stairs hunched over and using a baton as a cane.) She introduced herself to me as Mikayla's grandmother and wanted to see if Athena was available to play with Mikayla. I told her that Athena was upstairs in her bedroom, but she was welcome to see if she wanted to play. Later another woman came down the stairs and said she was Mikayla's mom. I had a nice conversation with her, and then she went upstairs to see if Mikayla was in Athena's room. Next Mikayla came downstairs and talked to me about playing with Athena and told me that Athena wasn't sharing her toys.

Athena now acts out these characters when she is bored and wants someone to play with, or when she is trying to avoid her chores, like cleaning her room. One day I will have to invite Mikayla's mom over for tea.

ATHENA'S COMMENTS (edited by Angela)

Today has been a sort of frustrating day. Both of my parents are not feeling well, so I have been bored. I went to my neighbor's house for about an hour and watched my friend Christina paint. Then we walked her dog Dakota around the neighborhood. When I came home my mom told me I have to clean my room before I can go play with any other friends. But I don't think that is fair. I told my Daddy, but he seemed to agree with my Mom.

Kindergarten Looms.....

It is almost the end of January and I have to make a decision about where to enroll Athena for Kindergarten. Seems simple, but it isn't. I have been researching charter schools off and on for the last six months. I currently have my list narrowed down to 3 possibilities, and I have now visited one of the three.

Tonight Athena and I went to an open house at the Sonoran Science Academy. The school is 4 years old, but the building is ancient. I liked the kindergarten and first grade teachers, they were both very nice women. There seems to be a lot of diversity, both in the the student population (based on the pictures hanging in the hallways) and in the staff. The school places a lot of emphasis on math, science and computers. Another bonus is that the prospective students take placement exams, and will be put in a classroom that suits their academic abilities.

The location of the SSA is both an asset and a liability in this decision. I like that it is about 5 miles from work, but it is 5 miles in the wrong direction. So it will take forever to get there in the morning, and it will tack on a bit of travel time at night too.

The before and aftercare programs are reasonably priced (at least this year, I don't know how much they will go up next year). They also have the longest extended care programs that I have found. The kids can be dropped off as early as 6:15 am and picked up as late as 6:00 pm.

I still have to check out the other two schools, but so far the SSA seems like a good match.

Check out my Slide Show!

Ultimate Cubicle Prank

Thanks Amy E for sharing. I hope this link allows me to end-around the filter at work.