4 Years Home

I made a big list of things I need to blog about and I'm just going to pretend I blogged about them in a timely manner...

Guess what?! We celebrated Simon being home for FOUR YEARS. Can you believe this?

We didn't tell him the day was anything different and I left for work like I usually would and raced ahead to a local fave donut shop and Steve followed a few minutes later without telling the boys they weren't going directly to school. So it was kind of funny to watch them from inside and Simon still didn't realize that I was there initially and I video'd him walking in and then realizing I was there and he walked to me saying, "It's my special day!"

I had an especially good laugh later when I zoomed in on some of the photos I took of them arriving. Simon was sorta thoughtfully looking around like, what is going on, and Archie was full on celebrating something he didn't know. Seriously, he had only been to this donut shop once and it was several months earlier and he immediately went berserk. It's in a strip mall so from the outside all it is is a pink sign that says YoYo so I was dying that he so clearly knew where he was. He started marching in like Captain YoYo.

Steve had class the night of Simon's Family Day, which was why we chose a breakfast surprise. However, Simon is always looking for a reason to go for Korean BBQ so we made sure to go out for dinner soon after. We've lucked out that a few places of recently started serving more Korean food in general, but also we have some more true Korean BBQ options with the table grill and all so that has been really fun (and really yummy). 

Wowsers Simon. I can't believe we are this far into the future after you made me a Mom. I couldn't have wished for a more thoughtful, loving and determined little boy to teach me the ropes of what it means to be a Mom. Thank you for being so patient with me while I try to figure it out. Archer probably owes you a million hugs for breaking me in and teaching me about love and life every day. I hope you know how much you are loved here and around the world, because as hard as I try I can never quite put into words how much you mean to me. I tried to think about how else I would describe you and the words "old soul" and "feels all his feelings to their fullest" came to mind. Then, I decided to go back to old letters I've written to your birth and foster families to see how I described you in the beginning and this is what I found:

Simon’s personality is a mix of sweet and stubborn! We have no doubts in our minds that he will grow to do amazing things.

He continues to have the most beautiful smile and everyone comments on it. It is truly infectious. Big, bright, and shows complete joy. He is very expressive. Both in his face and in his words! He is very willing and able to tell us exactly how he feels.

He is strong-willed and will not be persuaded easily. He can be challenging, but we are confident he will channel his intelligence and drive into good things. He is so charming, he melts most people’s hearts.

Words will never express how grateful we are to be his parents.

All of these sentiments are exactly what I would say about you today. I can't wait to see what you teach us in the coming years.