Wow...a lot has happened!

I love summer and I love the busyness of it that sharply contrasts with the oh.so.laid.back.nothing.to.do days. Obviously, this blog has not been a priority. However, we have a Mac desktop that I have resisted learning to use. Now that it has been moved to a room I actually LIKE to be in, I will go for it. So far, so good. (I suppose I am dating myself....because, if I were YOUNGER, I would have grown up on Apple Mac computers in school - right?!)
My last post was on the day we went to court and the state of IL took temporary custody of our lil man. Things did not get better for his mom after that and she got herself in situations that prevented her from seeing him on a regular basis. We kept in touch and I sent her pictures. She saw him on July 28 and then not again until just last Friday, October 1. He has changed SO much! He is funny, he is crawling - FAST - furniture walking, fake laughing, eating lots of solid foods and TEASING the 2 year old who is living with us now.
Oh, wait! That is a whole new world since the last post.
We have THE most amazing and adorable little 2 year old ATHLETE at our house now. He has been in Safe Families off and on since he was an itty bitty baby. Mom moves him in and out of the program and - when he comes back - the previous families are not always able to take him again. I have known him for some time since I drove him in the van full of kids down to Chicago to see their bio parents every Thursday. His mom would often miss her visits, so I got to hang out with him. He is yummy! When he needed yet another home, I scooped him up. (My case coach KNEW I loved him already.) He has been with us since August 31 and he fit in perfectly right away. My mom heart wants to keep him forever! My Father in heaven will have to decide if that is the plan for him, tho. And - if not - I will trust Him to heal my heart....
We did have another lil guy for about 2 weeks. My coach could not find a home for him. The placement was supposed to be for the remainder of the summer. She said he was 6 months at the time that H was 8 months....so I thought, "oh...I can do that...he will be smaller and less mobile than H" - who was not even crawling at the time. She said: "It will be like TWINS! It will be fun." LIES! They WERE indeed like twins - in fact, the newbie was 8 days YOUNGER than H....but POUNDS heavier and movin'! He was crawling and furniture walking and getting into everything. He was a sweet lil giant, tho. I was not sad when his mom was able to take him back early....she loved him and it was obvious. I am not sure I would have remembered the rest of the summer if he had stayed. *wink*

As a family, we took a road trip to New Hampshire for two weeks in August. It was nice...and, as usual, went by FAST! We were able to make it to the beach in Maine twice and took fabulous pictures. We had a lot of fun just hanging out with my big extended family. Our little bear was a great traveler. It helped that we did it in 2 days each way, stayed in nice hotels with swimming pools and stopped on the way there at the American Niagara Falls. Another story worthy of it's own paragraph!
Pete and I have our passports and I have certified birth certificates for all the bio kids - but - since Ali is an ADULT now (wince), she would have to have a passport or an "enhanced driver's license." She has neither and we do not have a certified copy of little bear's birth certificate. This meant we could not even consider crossing over into Canada....not to mention, as a DCFS kid now, H is really not supposed to leave the country with us without advanced permission from the higher-ups in Illinois' DCFS. (Picturing the firing squad we could have gotten ourselves in front of had we tried! Oh my!) So....we decided to make the best of it and check out the American Falls in Niagara, NY. 
TIME OUT! I simply MUST stop here to say:
I HATE......really, really, really HATE to the core of my being....being SO sickeningly close to those insane falls with my children....much less anyone else's children.
It is amazing and awe inspiring...and it freaks me out. I am not going into detail because it makes me nauseous. I will simply say you can get way too scary, stupid close to the river AND the falls.
We had a good time and have breathtaking pictures. Been there, done that...fine if I never ever go back. Not good for my WILD imagination. I had nightmares about one particular child. Gee, think it could have been the one who had recently asked me, "Mom - why do you always think the things I do  - and WANT to do - are dangerous?!" E-gad!

Baseball games, cookouts, camping, bike riding, teeth falling out (not knocked out!), tears worthlessly shed over a boyfriend, starry eyes over the next guy, fishing trips, lazy evenings on the beach at the lake, impromptu trips for ice cream, sleeping in, running barefoot in the grass, a whole weekend of birthday parties at our house (with a Safe Family placement of 4 kids!), fireworks, trips to the zoo, tag, and late evening sunsets. I do love summer.
So, fall....what HAVE you in store for us? (It's spring and summer I am REALLY curious about, tho!)