Still here, still alive

It's MARCH, can you believe it?! We are very ready for spring here. It is still quite cold, especially in the morning, but the first flowers are poking their heads through the grass and when the sun is shining it is so nice out. We are back to riding bikes and scooters, playing in the yard and going for long walks with baby in the stroller.

We, especially baby and me, are also spending a lot of time with an extremely fabulous couple - her new long term foster parents! It turned out that being reunited with her birth mother is not an option anymore (at least for now), so a long term foster home was found. (We only do emergency/short term foster care, which is rare in our area, so we were not even asked if we wanted to keep her.) The official moving date will be April 1st, and she will be six months old! Where has time gone? The original "three weeks" of emergency foster care somehow turned into 5+ months. It's been such a joy and a privilege to have her with us. A short time in our arms - forever in our hearts!
The little one is (of course) very attached to all of us, especially to me, but she is getting used to her new home and her new parents. We are trying to make the transition for her as smooth as we can. Her bond with us is as strong as ever (we are not trying to de-attach her in any way), but we are helping her to spread her little wings and form new bonds as well. So far things are going very well, and she will have a wonderful new home. We will stay in touch (it helps that she will live close by), and have already offered our babysitting services. :)

Meanwhile, Finn and Lily are being their usual rambunctious selves, going to Kindergarten, doing crafts (like the masks in the pictures), driving their mama crazy, spilling their juice, tracking mud through the house, smothering me (and baby, and Neil when he is home) with hugs and kisses, fighting over toys, playing together like the best friends that they are, and coming up with the funniest things.

Lily is teaching herself how to write, and was all proud when she figured out how to spell "tooth". It looks like this: "2F". The kid has instant text messaging down already. R u ready 4 this? I'm not.

In other news, Finn has decided he wants to be called "Benjamin" from now on. English pronunciation please, not German. And Ben WILL NOT do. Benjamin.
Lily, not to be outdone, changed her first name to "Rosenkohl".  It's German. If you don't know what it means, look it up. Why the heck she wants to be called a vegetable she doesn't even like, I don't know. At least it's in the plant family, like Lily, right?