Christmas Hoopla

2 events to share today. First of all, last Saturday we did a very cool Christmas family thing to do and took a ride on the Christmas train! It was a steam engine decorated with lights and presents and such. Joseph was in heaven. During the ride we were able to walk around a little bit. We went to a car that was open to the outside with a gate. There was a man playing Christmas songs on the violin, big presents, and a reindeer made of lights. We looked out the window for a while, then Joseph ran off (like he does) down a little hall. Dave and I heard the jingle of bells, and before he knew it, Joseph had smacked right in to Santa Claus. It scared him to death and he came running back to me as fast as he could. Santa gave each of us a candy cane and let us take a couple of pics. I hope it hasn't ruined Joseph's relationship with Santa for life. I guess worse things could happen. maybe.

Next, I have renounced my anal, perfectionist ways for good. This year I bought a gingerbread house kit. I didn't realize that the mom was supposed to have spent all day building it and letting the cement frosting harden. It takes like 2 hours between each step before you can move on! So, basically we each just grabbed a wall, slathered it with frosting and candy, and leaned them against each other supported by soup cans, hoping they'd stay. It turned out to be way more fun than aesthetically pleasing and was eaten within 6 days. Also, when we decorated the tree, I left my most breakable ornaments in the box, and just took a breath and let go, even when Joseph was stepping on the ornaments. I just kept the glue handy and kept patching them up. whew! Live in the moment!

Last of all, I know many of you were waiting for the very last second to order your Scentsy supplies for Christmas. Basically, you're too late. You had to order by midnight the 15th to get guaranteed shipping by Christmas. Lucky for you though, I have some stock on hand! BUT! I will be leaving for Utah on the 18th and you'll be up a crick. (that's how we say creek in Payson) You may just have to wait til January. By the way, the January warmer of the month is a rose-colored one, kind of shaped like my favorite, Torino. And.....the customer of the week is..... Isaac's birthmom and her mom, who each ordered enough to qualify for free shipping and free and half price stuff! Hurrah for them!! Just put an order together with your friends and you too can qualify! la la la

The very last picture is what I get for thinking I can go take a shower. 9 smashed eggs, 8 maids a milking, 7......

merry christmas!!!

Sorry I forgot....

I know after my last post, many if not all of you were like, "What the heck? Who was customer of the week? Was it me???" Well, I didn't want to mix church and state, so I thought I should wait a bit for the big reveal!! My customer of the week was Angie B, my friend down in Corvallis. She had a great Scentsy party down there and with only 3 guests still managed to earn over $35 in free products! The other thing I want to point out is even if you have never followed the link to my website before, you need to do it this time because you just HAVE to see the beautiful December Wamer of the Month. (Did I mention its $27 instead of $30 this month only?) I'm not saying you have to buy it, I'm just saying its the prettiest one I've seen. (and did I mention there's over 50 warmers to choose from?) www.scentsy.com/serenitynow It's not to late to order for Christmas! Just order by the 15th for on-time delivery for the big day! Oh, I also need to do a "shout out" to my girls at "The Style Co." for running an ad for me in their newsletter. If you ever wondered to yourself, "Why does Jo dress so HOT half the time and like a super scrounge the other half?", you can thank Amy and Kerri (for the HOT half, that is!) Since I'm pretty sure my blog gets over a billion hits a day, I'll return the favor. Check them out at http://www.the-style-co.com/ You won't be sorry you did and you're spouse will wonder , "Where the heck did my scroungy counterpart go?" I'm just sayin! And..if you are thinking, "Why does she use this as a forum to sell her darn wickless (and very safe!) candles", you don't need to read it anymore. You're officially univited, and if this were stupid facebook, I'd break up with you! ha!

Oh shoot! I just realized I've been neglecting my fan base who is purely and clearly devoted to Joseph's poop chronicles. (that was in brown ink if you can't tell! tee hee!) So, he's changed his own diaper 3 times in the last 2 days. He folds the diaper neatly in a package, but still runs around with a poopy bottom. I just want you all to know that I've reserved all the potty training books AND kit at the library and will be reading fervently while anticipating January 1st. The BIG day! The other night Joseph said, "Oh crap!" Good job mom and dad, your 2 year old now says Mormon swears. Uh....we didn't teach it to him!

Speaking of my billion hits a day. Please don't link my blogsite from yours or from anywhere. I am computerly retarded so I'm not sure how any of that works. But I really only want people who know our family to read this. Dave assures me we are protected/blocked/whatever the heck it all means. But we really need our privacy/anonymity when it comes to certain birthfathers of certain kids of ours. Anyway, I might post a picture or 2 now that will most certainly appear at the top. They were taken at Cousin Robin's First Annual Turkey Trot! Dave did the 3 mile run. Jo did the 1 mile walk (so!!) Joseph came in 3rd in the 50 yard dash(against bigger and older kids!), and Isaac was a total slacker and slept the whole time. Still gotta love him tho! Cute lil bear!

Love, jo

Git 'er done!!

Yea!! We're good and sealed! My only regret was that there weren't any Prop. 8 protesters to be in our pictures. :( On Saturday, November 29th, at later than 11am, Isaac was sealed to us! Our shed-u-eled appointment was 11am, and we were promptly there at 10am to sign in. Unfortunately as we were getting our records checked, we realized we forgot to bring our adoption decree. Not good. We had to drive home and get it. On our way out of the temple, we were able to greet all our guests coming in!

45 minutes later, we came bursting back into the temple and the workers rushed us around to get into the sealing room in time. The boys had been in the temple nursery this whole time. Isaac was really happy to be sealed and had the cutest smile on his face. Joseph was pretty much terrified and was close to tears the whole time we were in the sealing room. He really enjoyed all the "Christmas lights" though! (the chandeliers) We asked to have a few minutes in the sealing room after our guests had left. It was so awesome to look in the mirror and see our little family of 4 all dressed in white. We can truly be together forever and ever! I can't even tell you how grateful we are for the atonement of our Savior who made this possible and for the restoration of the sealing keys. The other 2 saviors in our lives are the birthmoms of our boys. They gave us our family. How can you not love someone who would GIVE YOU THEIR BABY!!? They did something for us that we can never do for ourselves. What other definition of a savior is there? We love them more than words can say. Our boys will ALWAYS know that these women made a huge sacrifice because they loved their babies more than self. They are our family's heroes and we will love them forever and ever.

I'm pregnant!? and It's FINAL! tee hee hee!

Catchy title, huh? :) Our adoption was finalized on November 5! woo hoo! Poor kid is stuck in the crazy family now!!! hahaha!

So, I'm finally back from the valley of the shadow of death. I've felt freakin' sick for over a week. Don't try to diagnosed me cause it makes me irritated, but I feel nauseated, dizzy, so tired, emotional, and cranky. My Dr. doesn't know what it is, but yes, I have an appt. with her next week. Just like those of you who are totally crazy, she wondered if I'm pregnant, so she made me go to the lab to take a pregnancy test. And it came back.....

What do you think? Hello! Did I have an affair and I didn't even know it? Of course I'm not pregnant. Speaking of which, since this is my blog and I live in America and can say whatever I want to say, let me get on my soap box about something. When people adopt, don't say, "That's ok, a lot of people adopt and then they get pregnant." That is the most retarded thing I've ever heard. Sure it happens to some people, but you're telling me that my first child doesn't count, and hopefully I can get "one of my own" that DOES count?! It is insensitive, unthoughtful, rude, and just stupid. Don't feel bad that people "have to" adopt. Just say, "Yay!!! I'm so happy for you!!!!" Adoption is the most awesome experience ever and I would actually be really ticked if I were prego at this point, because that is NOT how I want to build our family. Adoption is now our FIRST choice. Whew.

So anyhow, my Customer of the Past 2 Weeks......da da da daaaa! My sister Monica! Let me tell you why. Monica had a "Scentsy Basket Party" at work. It is super easy (especially if you hate going to those annoying home parties where people apply extreme amounts of pressure to buy their stuff). You just take a set of mini-testers of all the Scentsy scents to work and leave it in your breakroom, office, etc. for people to smell, along with a bunch of order forms and catalogs, and voila! Free stuff for you! I also have an honorary customer of the week; Tiffany J. purely for saying "Oh! pick me, pick me! " Really she just wanted me to read her blog, which I did! :) tee hee!

So during all my sickness and suffering in silence, Dave ended up giving me a few priesthood blessings. Before the latest one, he told Joseph that he was going to give mom a blessing. Joseph immediately laid both hands on my head. We were touched and thought it was really sweet. We weren't sure about protocol on this one, so we let him keep them there. He stood there for half the blessing. I think it will be really neat to someday have my sons give me a real blessing.

And as for poop....Joseph changed his own diaper today. I didn't know it until I found a poopy diaper in the hall. I patted his bottom to see if he replaced it, and he did! The next time I changed his diaper I checked to see how he did. It was pretty good! So, this must be the potty training sign. I'm still not going to think about it till January.

I gave Isaac his first haircut and didn't do so great. I wanted it to look nice for the temple sealing coming up, so I took him to a "pro" to fix it. So, she ended up shaving his head (see above) and I was so ticked and came home and cried and cried. Urrgh! I don't care how bad I did it, I'm doing it next time! My baby has a freakin' buzz!! By the way, all of my endowed friends(even those from far far away) are welcome to come to the sealing. Contact me for time and place! (We can't have any crazy freakin' weirdos from the internet crashing our sealing!)

That's all.

My brother-in-law is famous!

I think this is so cool so I'm sharing. My sister's husband went to Afghanistan as an intelligence officer and got wounded and came home. His story made the news. Watch the video. It's better than the article.
http://www.kutv.com/content/news/specialreport/story.aspx?content_id=cf91822d-b97e-4fa5-9c32-d805e1108064

Pee Pee M&Ms

Hello friends, family, and fans of the Farrers! I've been learning blogging etiquette and have been told that if I want people to keep reading mine, I have to leave comments on others. So I'm trying to leave 2 or 3 a week. Just be patient. Ok Ok, I have a testimony of Facebook. I'll admit it. A long ago friend from Rochester found us whom we wouldn't have found in any other way.....and I know that Facebook is true....with every fiber of my being....beyond a shadow of a doubt...and I won't take it fer "granite"....ever again... sniff...

I've been giving Joseph 3 M&Ms when he goes potty. (mind you I haven't started any formal training yet....not till January.... or March) I give them to him while he's still on the potty (immediate gratification right?) "Something" told me not to do it this time and sure enough, he ate one, dropped 2 in the pee pee water, snatched one out and into his mouth and I flushed as fast as I could to keep the other pee pee m&m from from being inhaled. Ok, how gross is that? pee pee m&ms?

One more story before we get down to the bis-ness (with a silent first "s" like bi....ness)

We have playgroup at the gym in the church and sure enough Joseph runs out and disappears. So I check every classroom for that little pill. I end up in the chapel where he is giving a talk at the podium. When I reach him, he says to me, "That's a time out." I've taught him well.

Isaac's adoption finalization was postponed because the judge was sick....urrgh. So we're doing it through the mail and it should be done by the 8th.

The CUSTOMER OF THE WEEK is.......Patty! (Isaac's birthmom's birthcoach's mom!!!!)Yeaaaaaa Patty!!!! Patty went for the Scentsy plug-ins cause she knows a great deal when she sees one!!! Thanks Patty!!!

Last of all, of course they'll end up at the top apparently, are the pics of my so cute kiddos.

Love you all,

Jo

Facebook...What the heck???

So I know you're anxious to hear who the customer of the week is, but seriously, I have to tell you I was "found" on Facebook. I blame it collectively on 3 of my REAL life friends. One wanted me to read her facebook so I was like, OK. Apparently that made me be on facebook. The second friend posted my picture. And the third friend saw my picture and BAM! I was found after years and years of hiding out in the witness protection program. So now I'm getting tons of emails from my mission friends asking if I'll be their "friend". Wasn't I already their friend? Some of them write on my "wall" but most of them don't write anything at all. So do people just go on there to collect pretend "friends" cuz they don't have any in real life? I let everyone be my friend, mostly cause I feel bad that they've been reduced to this kind of "friend" collecting and cuz heck! It's not even real! Do they pick me just because I know the same people as them or do they really care about me and my family and what's going on in my life? If we're friends, why don't we hang out together in REAL life? Why don't they use a REAL phone and call and ask how I'm doing?Why don't they send me REAL Christmas cards? This is the weirdest experience I've had in a long time. I don't get it. But then again, now I blog. But I'm just using it as a...uh..."journal". Right.

Ok, so my customer of the week is....da da da daaaaa.... ME! I bought pretty much a serious ton load of stuff to sell at 3 different holiday bazaars coming up. I should earn some serious cash flow. So, best of luck to me!

My birthday is tomorrow and I'll be 35. Holy crap! That's half of 70. I'm hoping to die before 80, so at least my life isn't quite half over yet. On Thursday I'm doing a Scentsy party at Isaac's birthmom's house. Is that the coolest thing in the world? She's so awesome! On Friday we go to court to finalize Issac's adoption. woo hoo! We're so excited! Of course nothing compares to the sealing!!!

No poop deck this week. Sorry to those of you who are following this closely. But he just spent 20 minutes on the potty! These pics are of my boys sitting in the cubby and I'm not sure what else. Maybe Isaac's 3 month b-day (blue onesie) and just other adorable things my 3 boys do. Aren't I lucky? After 20 years of being so boy crazy, I end up with the 3 cutest boys in the whole world!!!!! Cute movie below!

Last of all, to Rachel G. who asked if its ok if she reads my blog. Of course it is! And to all those creepy stalkers/killers out there reading it, ew gross, go away! And to any friends reading this and aren't telling me, show yourselves!!! I want to know who my audience is and who cares enough about our family to read about us. cute movie below! sorry so dark!

jo

Will the poop never end?

I know you've all been wildly anticipating the customer of the week! Well, it is....the girls who came to my first party and my father-in-law Rand Farrer, was a close second!
Everyone's a winner with Scentsy wickless products!

I would also like to give a "shout out" to Isaac's birthmom who explained to everyone in my las blog what I mean by "serenity now!!!!" Thanks!

So, let's see, how many times did Joseph poop outside this week? Let me count the times. urrgh! I'm going to potty train him in January, right after he turns 3. Let's face it. I'm putting it off. I don't want to do it! Not even a little bit! I have ZERO desire. I'll pay any of you to do it for me and give you a free room spray! He knows HOW to do it, he just doesn't WANT to!

But I know what you really care about; you just want to see pictures of my kids. That's ok, I lost the attention when we got Joseph. I'm used to it now. Since I didn't listen to my best friend Cindy's instruction on how to set my page up in order, you have to go back up to the top. I really don't think I HAVE to figure this out. It's not like it puts anyone out to have to go back to the top of the page. I got the video in the right place!

So, I forgot the most important thing! HELLO! We have a court date for Isaac's finalization on October 30th, woo hoo! woo hoo! It's almost official!!

Reminder! My First Scentsy party is Thursday, Oct. 16!

For those of you who are a little intimidated about parties. Please know that I am both the hostess AND the consultant. It's my first party! Also know that I am a low to no pressure salesperson. Come enjoy the Christmas treats and get your shopping done early!! From $3 to $30!! You can't beat it! Just come hang out with us! You'll be POPULAR!!! If you honestly can't make it, ask for a catalog or go to my website www.scentsy.com/serenitynow (you know, like on Seinfeld!?)

Adoption video-check it out!

I can't believe I haven't written this yet! I want to share a movie Isaac's birthmom made about our adoption story. Please watch it! Adoption is awesome!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4IdPtGZ-3oM

Joseph feeds Isaac

There is a cute movie at the bottom.

I was making dinner and was trying to keep Joseph occupied. So I told him to wash the baby bottles. He turned on the water and got the bottle brush and washed for a long time. When I wasn't looking, he got one and put some formula in it. He then put a nipple on and started to shake it. It spilled everywhere so I tightened it. He then put his finger over the hole(like me) so it wouldn't spill out when he shook. He shook it for a long long time as he walked around the room. I wasn't sure what his intentions were. Finally he went over to Isaac and stuck it in his mouth. (It was mostly water) Joseph said "Don't be scared Isaac" Isaac didn't drink it but just chewed on it. They sat there for a long time like that. What cute brothers!

So Joseph had a huge "Elimination Fest" on the deck yesterday. Yeah, I'm pretty sure he emptied every drop out of his bladder and bowels. Little bugger. We hosed down the deck and his bottom. He thought that part was real funny. To those of you who think he is ready for potty training, you are more than welcome to come try it. He loves going potty! He just doesn't see the need to do it more than 2 or 3 times a week!

Other cute things. When Joseph falls down (usually on purpose), if I don't say anything, He says to himself, "Are you ok? What happened? What's the matter?" Funny kid.

He also likes to try and make Isaac smile and says, "I smile you?!"

Isaac is almost sleeping through the night!! woo hoo! He usually wakes at 4 or 5 am needing his binky or gets shushed back to sleep! Victory!! He is smiling a ton now and even laughs. His first word is "oh". He is huge! 25 inches and 13 lbs. We just grow 'em big at our house I guess!

There is no customer of the week, although Dave's dad is planning a stab at it. Speaking of that, Don't your kids need gifts for their teachers? How about a car candle ($3) or a room spray($8)? Everybody likes Scentsy! Don't you want your kids' teachers to like them best? And give them good grades and more recess time? I'll hook you up at www.scentsy.com/serenitynow

I'm just sayin'.

Love, Jo

My new customer of the week is Heather Kartchner. She is Dave's awesome cousin! My new favorite probably. Sorry Robin.

Our latest news. Isaac slept 9 hours the other night! We were so proud; he's on his way to sleeping through the night, but hasn't done it again. He is smiling like crazy and we should get a court date for finalization real soon! We are planning on having him sealed to us in the Portland Temple near Thanksgiving. Our parents will be coming up and we'll spend the holiday with them and cousin Robin and her folks. Super fun!!

Joseph is taking a music class every wednesday for an hour. He loves it and the main thing is, he doesn't cry when I leave...A HUGE miracle! The only trouble is that there is this wonderful garden/nursery just down the road from his class....so...music class might end up costing a little more than we thought!

So, Joseph has been eating a lot of Shredded Wheat and when it comes out, if it doesn't turn to powder, it's a fine grit that sticks to his bum and wipes just don't cut it! This is the song I made up while trying to wash it off.

"How do we get the cereal off your bum?
How do we get the cereal off your bum?
I don't know, oh I don't know.
How do we get the cereal off your bum?"

Love, Jo

The cutest boys in the world

I've noticed that all our pics of our kids. Oh well. So, Joseph had created a new definition for poop-deck. He goes out on our deck, takes all his clothes off(including diaper) and poops. All I have to say is urrrrgh. Does this mean he's ready for potty training?

So, apparently I don't know how to make words go under the pictures. I may or may not figure it out! That's just how it is sometimes.

I just want to close by saying that my new favorite customer is Ina Overson. (Sorry mom-in-law. I still love you to pieces) Ina is Sister O. She was a companion of mine from my mission! Maybe I'll just have a customer of the week and then won't you all be trying to win!! Ha! You too can appear on Jo's blog! Who knows?

p.s. I learned how to link! Click on them and see!

I've gone the way of many a good stay-at-home mom.....that's right, I'm....

SELLING STUFF!

I have discovered a new product called Scentsy Warmers. What is It?

It's the hottest new thing in candles! Unique Scentsy Warmers use a 25-watt bulb to melt the wax slowly, maximizing the fragrance time of the Scentsy Bar or Brick. Plug it in, turn it on, place one or more sections of your Scentsy Bar into the dish and enjoy the Scentsy feeling!

Now this is Jo speaking, so here's my practical approach to this. Let me give you....

Jo's Top 5 Reasons To Buy Scentsy

1. SCENTS-Everyone wants their house to smell good! (I mean really, right now my house smells like poop and baby spit-up)

2.SAFE-There is no flame or wick, and the melted wax doesn't get hot enough to burn you. (Believe me, I tried it!)

3.SMART- You won't be breathing in smoke, soot, or lead from wicks. (And after 5 years in Rochester, we know about lead.)

4.SELECTION-There are over 80 Scentsy bars and 50 ceramic warmers to choose from. (Like Cranberry Spice, Fried Ice Cream, and Sweet Pea & Vanilla!)

5.CENTS-They're a good deal! Each $5 Scentsy bar lasts 60-80 hours; as long as a quality 12 oz. jar candle. (You know how frugal I am!)

Check out my website for more. You're gonna love it!

www.scentsy.com/serenitynow

This is my first blog post ever!

I'm so technically-oriented now, wouldn't you say? Dave says I should try posting a picture or a movie. Ok. Here we go.

Wow! I did it! Now I'll try the movie of Isaac riding horseback on Joseph.

I hope this works!!!!!!!! Thanks for looking at my cute kids!

Love, Jo

Joseph is very serious about water safety. Isaac is becoming a real person! He follows with his eyes when we walk around the room and he smiles quite a bit. We are monitoring his growth carefully.

Also, here is a cute picture of Joseph and Isaac and Talmage and Sydney together. They love each other. Joseph is always asking to hold Isaac now, and now that Isaac is able to control his head a little better, we have been more willing to let him.

So... Here We Are!

Us with Isaac

We are the Farrer family, Portland, Oregon edition. After 9 years of marriage and 2 kids, our family has entered the world of cyberspace. We can't promise that we'll post often, but when we do, watch out! If you want to see more about the main branch of Farrers, you should go to http://farrerfamily.blogspot.com/. That's Dave's family of origin.

If you already know who we are, the information you are probably most interested in is that of Isaac's advent into our family. First, let me be the first to say (on a website) that he is cute and Joseph loves him!

In February, 2008, we started getting email on our "secret" adoption email address that was connected to our profile on LDS Family Services.

She asked us some questions like, "Are you still available to accept babies?" For any of you who have ever been on a waiting list to adopt a child, you can imagine the emphasis behind the word "YES!!" that we sent back. However, because Jo and I are veteran adoptive parents, we knew not to get too excited from one email contact. This birth mother started to email us pretty regularly, and gradually, we started to glean details about this woman who lived in an "undisclosed" location (although she seemed to know an awful lot about Portland).

LDS Family Services in our area has regular group meetings with birth mothers in the midst of their decision whether or not to place their baby. The social worker in charge of the group had contacted us earlier about participating in an "Adoptive Parent" panel where birth mothers could meet potential adoptive parents. We were quick to volunteer to be on the panel.

By the time this panel came up, we were pretty sure that the birth mother we'd been emailing was going to be there. We knew she was 28 and that she was very Portland (you might have to live here to know what that means). Right before we went into the room with the birth mothers, we asked the social worker the ages of the girls who were there. He said 28, 27, and 21. We thought, "AHAH!"

Once we got settled in the room, we began scanning for possible matches. Two women were sitting next to each other on the left side of the birth mother couch. One was blond and the other had long dark hair. The blond one kept looking at us and whispering to the dark-haired one. That clinched it, she was our birth mother from the emails!

After the panel had officially ended, the dark haired woman who our birth mother had been whispering to approached us and told us that she was our birth mother (the blond one turned out to be her birth coach). We liked her immediately. If you turned Jo's hair dark brown, then you would think they were sisters.

On Easter Sunday, 2008, the social worker who works with birth mothers for LDS Family Services, Brent, knocked unexpectedly on our front door. We were still in our PJs, and he was wearing a suit. He asked if he could come in, and we agreed. He went back to his car to pick up a humungous blue Easter Bunny and an Easter Basket and a camera. He sat us down on the couch and gave the bunny to Joseph, who liked it a lot. Then he gave us the basket. It had a sonogram and an invitation from the birth mother to be that fetuses parents.

We cried in our PJs while Brent took pictures as he'd been commissioned to do by the birth mother.

We were still wary to let our feelings get to vested because birth mothers change their minds all the time, and we didn't want to get hurt. Still, we were excited and we started hanging out with the birth mother about once a week. These were good times by any standard. She is hilarious, and she and Joseph get along great. During each visit, she let us feel her belly and watch baby Isaac (known as PokePoke at the time) roll around.

Isaac's birth mother is one of our treasured friends, and we love her to pieces. If she is reading, I hope she knows how true that is! She took the awkwardness out of every meeting. She gave us permission to be excited for this new life coming into our family and she celebrated with us. I can never be grateful enough for that.

On Sunday, July 20th, we got the call that our birth mother was in labor and on her way to the hospital. We rushed Joseph to Robin's house and started driving while Jo and I took turns using the cell phone to call people at church to tell them that we wouldn't be able to fulfill our responsibilities and why.

We got to the hospital four minutes after the birth mother. We were there from 9 AM to 4 PM. Most of that time we hung out with the birth mom's support people while she talked on the phone with her family and friends, taking advantage of the epidural. But when it came time to push, I learned why it's called "labor." I've never seen a person do such hard physical labor in my life.

Here are bunch of pictures of Isaac: