Happy Birthday Amora!

My sweet angel turned 2 recently, and we had a great time celebrating. We had a jungle themed party because she absolutely loves animals (I figure we'll be doing princess parties for the next few years, so I wanted something different). Among our guests were 7 children and 4 adults. Adam's main job was documenting everything on camera, and he did great. Now I have plenty of photos to share with all of my diligent readers (all two of you). :)

I let Amora choose between two cake designs: a tiger or a monkey. She chose the tiger and was quite satisfied with her choice. She is still talking about her tiger cake. I found a picture online and modified it. I'm very pleased with the way it turned out.


Here's the birthday table with her gifts, cake, and decorations. Each child got to take a fake bug home with them at the end of the party. It was an inexpensive party favor but well received by the children.


The first activity was coloring a jungle picture. I tried to keep things fun and simple so it wouldn't be too chaotic. And what two year old doesn't love to color?


Here are a few of her friends enjoying the coloring action as well.


The next activity was a "feed the monkey" bean bag toss. I maxed out my craftiness on this one by making the bean bags and the monkey box. It was a hit! For Amora's first turn, she grabbed a bean bag, walked over to the box, and dropped it in. She then got the hang of throwing it in and loved that as well. The other kids were also very engaged in this activity.


Then it was time to dig into the cake Amora was lusting after all afternoon. She loved getting sung to. I occasionally will hear her singing "Happy birthday dear Amora..." What can I say? It stuck. I made an orange cake with lemon frosting that was delicious. My only regret was that most of it went to waste after the party because we left town again.


And lastly, we opened gifts. This was much more fun than last year because Amora really knew what was going on. I tried to be very conscious of giving her time to open each gift while still maintaining the attention of the other children.


She received many fun gifts: books, puzzles, a FurrReal kitty, a baby doll that cries, hair clips, and a bedding set (and quite a few more). Thanks to friends and family for joining in on this celebration. Amora loved all of her gifts and is so happy to be two!

Audrey's Wedding

In December, Amora and I traveled to Florida for my sister's wedding. She looked beautiful, and everything was absolutely perfect. I was a bridesmaid, and Amora was a flower girl.

The wedding was about an hour after Amora's normal nap time, and she refused to nap. I was quite worried about how she would do during the actual ceremony. I asked her if she wanted to walk down the aisle with the other two flower girls and she said yes. She did a great job walking down the first half of the aisle, then stopped and looked very confused. I quickly swooped her up and placed her on her grammy's lap. During the ceremony, I heard a little sucking sound and looked over at her to see my little angel sound asleep sucking her thumb.

Here are all of the Kooistra siblings, their spouses (minus Adam), and kids.


The bride with all three flower girls and the ring bearer:


The sisters waiting in the bride's room for the ceremony:


Audrey's family:


The wedding party:


The reception was great. Delicious food, fun music, dancing, and acting crazy. The kids thought the laser was super exciting.


Congrats again to Audrey and Derek! We're so happy for the both of you! Thanks for a great weekend.

2010 Loumeau Family Christmas Letter

Dear Family and Friends,

2010 has been another year of change for our family. We strive to move forward and learn the things we need to learn so that we can become the people God wants us to be.

We’ll start with the most important member of our family, Amora. She just had her second birthday and continues to be a joy in our life. It’s incredible at how much she has developed linguistically in the past year. She can now form complex sentences and loves to sing (and sings most of the actual lyrics to songs). Her favorite songs include The Itsy Bitsy Spider and Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer. She’s quite a picky eater, so one of the biggest compliments I can get is “It’s nummy, Mommy.” My heart melts when she says three special words to Adam or me, “I love you.” She loves to wrestle with her daddy and read stories with her mommy. We have a special little girl and are so grateful for her.

I am embracing my task as being a full-time mom and wife. In addition, I have the opportunity to watch a 3 year old boy a few days a week. It’s great for Amora because she has someone to play with, and it gives me an idea of how life will be with more than one child (no, we are not announcing anything). I love to plan activities for Amora, have girl’s nights with the ladies, and go on a few dates with the hubby. We had a new addition to our family this year, Lucy, a sweet little Dachshund dog, who helps keep me busy. I have also had the opportunity to travel multiple times this year to visit family. Recently, we had three weddings in our families that I was able to attend. But all that traveling sure does have me hoping for a more quiet 2011. Maybe I will have time to pick up a new hobby.

Adam has also had quite a year. He started off working for US Bank in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho. After a lot of thought and prayer, he realized that he has an interest for and talent in statistics. So in May, we packed up and moved to Boise, Idaho so Adam could attend school at Boise State University. He acquired a job as a psychosocial rehabilitation specialist (he helps people with mental illnesses maintain as much independence as possible) and went to school part time. He will be attending school full-time starting in January to complete the required prerequisites for a master’s degree in statistics. Adam loves to spend time with his family and participate in an email discussion group that allows him to share his brilliant perspective on many issues. He also enjoys watching football and basketball and is quite happy when the bowl season spreads its Christmas cheer every December.

Thanks to all of our family and friends for your support and prayers. We wish you all a Merry Christmas!

God bless,
Adam, Wendy, and Amora Loumeau

My TSA Story

I was traveling from Houston (IAH) on Sunday, December 19, 2010 with my husband and 2 year old daughter. We prepared for screening as normal, emptying our liquids and dividing the small liquids in Ziploc bags. I enter the metal detector and am not cleared because of the excessive number of hair pins I left in my hair from a wedding the night before. I am told to hand my child to my husband so I can get pat down. Fine, I get it.

As I am waiting, a TSA agent tells me (not my husband), that our stroller will be coming out of a different scanner. I am then informed that I cannot touch anything, not even my daughter until I am cleared from the pat down. I then wait a few minutes (not seconds) for a TSA agent (while my husband is left on his own to care for a 2 year old and gather all of our belongings).

The TSA agent (Agent A) then begins her speech of what she is going to do. I interrupt her to ask for clarification on what the exact policy is for the pat down, where she begins to get irritated with me and continues on her prepared speech without answering my question. During this speech, I’m watching my husband and daughter to make sure everything is going okay. I then see the stroller going out of the other scanner and call to my husband so he can get it. TSA Agent A then yells at me and runs to grab someone else’s belongings. As I’m trying to explain to her that those are not my belongings and I was just pointing the stroller out to my husband, another agent (Agent B, LT50 Demeke) comes up to yell at me as well. Agent B, LT50 Demeke, informs me that I was being incredibly disrespectful and called it upon herself to oversee and verbally abuse me throughout the duration of the pat down. She also walks over to my husband to lecture him on how his wife needs to learn respect for the sake of our daughter.

I am then cleared and ask for Agent B’s name and ID badge number. Agent B, LT50 Demeke, then scatters my boarding documents over a table, grabs my driver’s license and boarding document, and takes it to her post to write down my information. When I tell her she has no right to take my things like that (remember she was not the individual who was assigned to perform my pat down), she told me that she did indeed have that right and also had the right to have me arrested if she wanted. She kindly gives me back my documents along with her name and wishes me a Merry Christmas.

I arrive at my destination and find that the bag that I checked did not leave the Houston airport. After speaking with a retired airport employee, I am quite certain that Agent B, LT 50 Demeke, used my identification and boarding documents to pull my suitcase off my flight for further inspection (of course with no intent other than pure malice).

This incident makes me sick. As an American citizen, I should have the right to not be harassed like this. TSA needs to have checks and balances. They should not be the god of the airport where they can do whatever they want to passengers. Agent B, LT50 Demeke, should be put on probation at the very least for this malicious and abusive behavior, if not fired. We deserve a right to speak up and create real change.

Another concern I have is this: what if my husband wasn’t there? Who would have looked after my daughter and belongings if I couldn’t touch them? I am scared to find out. So scared that I honestly feel sick thinking of flying again.

Please send this to anyone who will listen. Something needs to change. Mothers and families should not be targeted by TSA like this. Terrorists should be targeted. This is malicious, destructive behavior that needs to stop. If we don’t do something now, how far will we let it go? How many more basic rights will be taken away in the name of safety?

Welcome Aunt Audrey!

My sister and her fiancée came last weekend from Florida for a visit and to catch a Boise State game. We had a nice time hanging out. I was happy to finally meet her fiancée--they are just perfect for each other. Amora had a nice time getting spoiled by her aunt and soon-to-be-uncle.

We of course had to hit up the Boise State store. The helmet was Amora's favorite sport's gear.


She also loved her little "mop". She "mopped" the entire store in blue and orange. I'm sure the employees were grateful for her help.


Another highlight was going to the Bruneau Sand Dunes which is a park of gorgeous dunes of sand in the middle of nowhere. This is a photo of us girls before we began the hike to the top.


Here are Audrey and Derek hiking up. Notice how far behind I am with the camera. It is not easy hiking up steep hills of sand with a 25 pound wiggly little toddler.


It was quite cold at the dunes, so I let Amora wear my sweatshirt. She loved her little straight jacket until she needed her arms to throw rocks. At least we got a few good laughs out of it.


This is how Amora smiles on cue.


And this is Audrey's impression. Any resemblance?


Thanks Audrey and Derek for a great visit. We can't wait to see you for your wedding in 2 1/2 weeks!

Halloween

Before Halloween, we had a few friends over to carve pumpkins. This was the first time I can remember carving a pumpkin with a pattern so it would look really nice. I was not disappointed. Patterns make it so easy for non crafty people like me. We had a cute little ghost to decorate our home. A family pose.


I just had to include this picture. I told Amora to show her teeth when she smiled and open her eyes. I guess that was one too many directions.


We went to our church Trunk-or-Treat. Amora was the cutest cow! She got very good at telling everyone the sound a cow makes. Moo!


Here is Amora heading out to Trunk-or-Treat. She's holding her friend Michael's hand. He loved leading her along.


And this is during the Trunk-or-Treat. She got so excited to get candy that she popped one in her mouth with the wrapper on.


Her favorite treats this Halloween include lollipops, Tootsie Rolls, and anything with chocolate. Holidays are so much fun with little ones!

Trip to Oregon Part 5: Done Traveling

We tried a different route home, hoping for better luck than our first attempt. The plan was to drive 5 hours to Vancouver, stay overnight, and have Amora fly home with her grandma while I drive home.

The thing about plans is that they always have a way of changing. We made it 4 hours to Salem, stopped for dinner at my Dad's house, and began our last leg of the day. About 20 minutes out of Salem, the check engine light came on. I frantically called my step dad asking if I should pull over. He told me I could most likely keep going, so I didn't stop until I made it to Vancouver.

After telling my mother-in-law my concerns, we agreed that it would be best if I fly home with Amora and leave the car in the care of my father-in-law. We readily agreed and made it home, without the car.

Amora is done traveling...


And really cute about it.


And the car? We are still waiting on an estimate with a mechanic in Vancouver. Maybe I will have my freedom again. I'm not feeling very optimistic about it though. Cast your votes: how much will this repair cost me?