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My Overthinking

Philly Area mom, Life forever changed by adoption

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Quintessential Childhood

6.27.11

Growing up, we moved around a lot. By the time I was in 9th grade, I had been in 7 schools, I think. I remember one house in Timonium, MD with a little swing set. I remember lying about not being able to pump my legs just to get my Dad to push me. All kids do that, right? We were not really in another house long enough to warrant buying a swingset, nor did we have the money for that anyway. 



Over 9 years into parenting, and we still didn’t have a playground. We have a pretty teeny backyard. And, when you live across from a park with a playground, it’s hard to spend the money on something like that. And, Mark sorta put his foot down about it years ago when I wanted to reinvent my childhood with one.



But, when I saw an ad pop up on freecycle from a family getting rid of a big ole wooden playset, you better believe I replied as quickly as I could get my fingers to type. The lady posting the ad was inundated with responses, as you can imagine. But, she happened to have a daughter from China. And, she noticed that we had a daughter from China. And, guess who got the swingset? And guess whose husband spent nearly an entire Saturday taking multiple trips back and forth in a borrowed beat-up pick-up truck so that we could get it all home? Told you he was a good guy.



Saturday, while we had 2 extra sets of muscles here (do not under estimate the big guns of Grammy and Richard), the playset started to look less like a big pile of wood making our backyard a mess and more like a playset again.



Poor Daddy had to take nearly a dozen store trips before he found all the hardware he needed for new bolts and all those other necessary things to ensure this thing wouldn’t just fall apart on us. 
By that evening, it all looked pretty darn good though we’re still missing some landscaping and the fence that will hopefully be up soon. On Sunday…oh boy…as soon as we got home from church and the kids could change out of their Sunday best, the playground fun began.
I was tempted to get up there myself and giggle like a little girl again.
But, I found this.

Case you can’t read it — one sign said “Kid’s Clubhouse” and the other said “Keep Out Kids Only.” (And, take note of Drew’s particularly devious smile next to the second sign.)
So, that’s how it is, huh?
This actually worked the first time the kids approached the back door. The three big ones actually stopped and yelled into me to ask if they I could give them cups and a pitcher of water since they weren’t allowed in. 
They even ate in there.
Well, all but one of them.
Though I may have been tempted to break the rules, climb up into that clubhouse, and eat up there myself, I was not tempted to do this.



Sunday Snapshot




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Posted by Kelly the Overthinker
Filed Under: Sunday Snapshot

We are no longer that family

6.25.11

you may know the type (maybe you are the type), the family who lives somewhere and never really learns about where they live. That’s sorta embarrassing, you know? I do a lot of fun stuff with the kids and have been heading down to Phili on a pretty regular basis. But, I didn’t know much history beyond Ben Franklin and a broken bell.

Not anymore.

We rode the ducks, people.

A little scared by the noise of the traffic while we waited to board the “big bus.”

Apparently, learning history is incredibly stimulating to this two year old.

And, you can imagine how excited we were that every one of us were given our own duck bill that makes such a really nice quack sound that the children were really excited to keep doing during lunch in Chinatown.

History isn’t the only cool thing about visiting Philadelphia. Chinatown and this cardboard city in a window we found are pretty neat too.
Not ready to call myself a tour guide just yet. But, at least I know a little bit more about Phili history than before. Did you know that the Marines were started in a tavern in Phili? Did you know that the constitution was signed on the 4th but the public didn’t know about it until the 8th when it was read aloud in a public park where they reenact the reading each year on that date? Did you know Will Smith’s Dad lives right in a condo on a pier on the Delaware that Will bought him and puts flags out when Will is visiting so everyone knows? You know, very important stuff like that.

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it will bring new viewers and more attention to what we’re doing for adoptive families…

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Posted by Kelly the Overthinker
Filed Under: daily life

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Hello

I overthink everything. This blog is a prime example. Make yourself a cup of coffee and sit down for a read. Actually, make that a pot of coffee. There’s a lot of overthinking here.

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