April 2013

April has been a month pretty much dedicated to E. For her 17th birthday she decided to give back instead of receive. She went with her closest friends doing 17 random acts of kindness. Some of the things were a canned food drive, thank you cards for teachers, donating to Goodwill, a dollar taped to Redbox, coins in the kids machines in front of the store, flowers for those working the night shift at the ER, taking food to an animal shelter and many more. They finished off with her favorite dinner and cupcakes. It was the easiest year for me and one of the most memorable ones for her. It truly shows she is growing up, *sniff*
 
 E was in charge of organizing a charity basketball game for her school.  The teams were the mullets vs. the manes and you can tell which one M liked better!  She got JD Walton, the starting center of the Denver Broncos, to be there.  J even got into the fun squashing balloons at half time and winning a gift card.  They raised over $4,000, and had the most successful charity event ever.
 
 E sang an Alicia Keys song, "No One", for the talent show.  She did a great job despite not having time to swallow!

E was also part of a color run for the charity week, which goes towards children's cancer families.  This was especially close to our family because found out that one of B's friends from her adoption group was diagnosed with highly aggressive brain cancer. That has really put into perspective how much our children mean to us and what miracles they are.
 
She was asked to prom by J with cake and roses. Prom was fun with E going with J and her BFF T and T's boyfriend. They met for pictures, went to a nice Italian dinner and off to downtown for the prom itself. After they went back to T's for dessert and a movie. She got home at 3 am. T and I were a bit out of it at that point, but she had a good time and it was a memorable night.
 
 The biggest news this month was that T got a new job. He had been sort of looking for a new job when a past co-worker asked him to send in his resume to her. She put it is and then he had three months of waiting and five interviews. Just when he had decided it wasn't going to happen, he got the offer. Now he gets to work from home, except when he has to travel, and he got a substantial raise in pay. He is in shock a little bit, but feels like he has finally arrived. I'm so proud of all the hard work he has put into to get to this point, and most of all am glad that he is happy!

 We finished the month with my annual spring recital. B played a simplified version of 'Call Me Maybe', which is her favorite song. I had 25 students play and it was a nice night.

 Even thought there doesn't seem to be as much this month, it has been quite the roller coaster with much stress and change, both and bad.