Take Your 'Toy' & Shove It!

Remember when you were a little kid and your mom would pull up to the drive-thru?  It was always such a treat to see this...

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And why was it such a treat?  Well, sure the chicken nuggets rocked!  But that wasn't why!  It was for the toy.  

Ah.... the toy.

It was always something you could play with... ya know, actually enjoy.  

"I wonder which one I'll get this time, mom!"

A barbie?  

A Hot Wheels Car?

Maybe Batman?  

Or, possibly even The Lion King himself!

What has happened?!  I mean, I know that the quality of the toys are never going to be as awesome as when we were kids, but even WITH lowered standards I find myself thinking.... what is THIS crap?!

I mean, my son actually got THIS as his kids meal toy a few days ago.  

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WHAT.IS.THIS?!

What can he do with THIS?!

My husband had to put it together (and did so only out of pure amusement).  And of course my son had absolutely no interest in it.  

The thing is made out of paper!!  I've had paper CUTS that were more amusing to my child.

He doesn't even ask what toy he's going to get in his kids meals on the rare occasions we eat fast food.  He doesn't care.  There's ZERO expectation that it will be anything of interest to him.  

It's sad honestly, and it's a little pathetic.  

If companies aren't going to put a toy into the kids meal that will at least give the child some sort of entertainment, if only for 10 minutes then just don't put them in there!  SPARE ME!  I'm sick of picking the crap up out of the floorboard of my car because it's been immediately dismissed by my kid.  Keep the "toy" and lower your prices.  

AND SPARE THE ENVIRONMENT!  I mean good GRIEF, everyone keeps blabbing about Green THIS and Green THAT and fast-food places are throwing cardboard "toys" into the millions of kids meals they pump out a day.  

They're honestly more likely to make a kid of the 21st century happy by placing a tiny little message on the chicken-nugget box that says, "In lieu of giving you a piece of junk cardboard monstrosity and labeling it a "toy" we've donated 25 cents toward saving the rain forest!"

Until then, they can just take their TOYS and shove 'em!

Life with Maddox

"Um, mom... I accidently spilled something.... on the ceiling."

"Girls, girls, you're both beautiful." 

[Talking to my sister and me as we were having a disagreement.]

Maddox:  "You're racing me [at Mario Kart.]

Me:  No, because if I beat you, you'll get mad."

Maddox:  "No, when I beat YOU, I'll laugh."

[He beat me.]

How Can This Be?!

This little boy started kindergarten today.  

My little man is growing up.

OUR SUPER FANTASTIC ANNOUNCEMENT!! :)

Two months ago, I posted about the baby maybes.  In that post I mentioned that I have health problems and that it's one of the reasons my husband and I haven't had a baby.  But, I didn't mention the cause of those health problems or the severity of them.  {Toward the end of this post, I'll give you the link to where you can find this information.}

So due to my health, needless to say, although my husband and I want a little one, we've decided (after speaking with specialist after specialist) that it's just not worth the risk that I carry.  INSTEAD.... we've decided that we're going to adopt!!

Yes, THAT'S the big announcement.  We're adopting!!  YAY!!  I am so, so excited!!  We're going to have a baby!!  :)  Our goal is to begin our home study during the month of September.  I cannot wait to begin the process.

Our problem now is finding creative ways to finance our adoption.  Everyone knows that adoption isn't cheap, and we're estimating that our adoption will cost between $20,000 to $30,000 (OUCH) and while I finish school my husband (who's an active-duty military member) is our sole-income provider.  But I will not let that big scary number stop us from having a baby!!

We'll be doing fund raisers, raffles, rummage sales, and tons of other stuff along the way to help us come up with the money we need to fund the adoption.  We're also accepting donations.

Donations are being collected through our WePay site.  (Hopefully within the next month, we'll be holding raffles there as well.)  This WePay site I just set up tells our story and why we're choosing adoption, as well as allows individuals to donate.  I hope that you'll consider visiting it to learn more about us.

So, this is where I need your help.  In addition to visiting it yourself, PLEASE pass our WePay site along to others.  Send it out through your email, post it on FB, "Like it," anything to get the word out about us.  We need all the exposure we can get to make this dream come true.

I've also started another site, choosing-adoption.com.  This will allow me to network with other adoptive moms and insure that my personal blog isn't all about adoption from here on out (and let's face it, it would be otherwise!)  I will still be making "big announcements" regarding adoption here as well... duh!  But, check out Choosing Adoption and pass it along as well!  :)

Thank you SO MUCH for all of the past support you've shown me.  It means the WORLD to me.  I wouldn't be the woman, blogger, or mommy I am without all of the amazing people who continuously support me and cheer me on.  So.... Operation Bring Home Baby begins NOW!!

{Whew, SO glad I could share that with all of you.  I am not good at keeping my own secrets!  Oh, and yay for babies!!}

--Update 01.25.2012:  Unfortunately, right as we started searching for agencies something very personal happened which made us rethink whether pursing adoption at that time was best under the circumstances.  It was upsetting to admit that our plans had to be put on hold, but that's life.  We haven't abandoned our dream of adopting, and still hope that 2012 will be our year!--

AHH!! Where Have I Been?!

I haven't blogged in like, 10 days.  YIKES!!

There is a big reason why, but I can't share that with you just yet.  :)  The other reason is... well, I don't know why!  I guess I've been in a bloggy funk.

So, I asked my son what I should write about.  He said, "Well... just write about something funny.  Maybe make a funny video or something that will crack them up... oh, and talk in an alien voice."

But, I'm pretty sure that none of you want to see what I look like right now (at almost one in the morning) and I'm certain I can't do an "alien voice" (despite Maddox's attempts to teach me how) so I'll pass on the video idea.

Instead, I'll ask a question.... Do any of you ever get in a bloggy funk?  Maybe you can't think of anything to write about?  Or, maybe you're just not interested in blogging that week?

I hope my spark for blogging will come back soon!  After all, my poor blog has never been so neglected.