Our Blessed Family

It's Been WAY Too Long!

2011-06-28T20:17:00.000-07:00

We are coming up on our third Family Day. I wish I had blogged this past year, but it wasn't in the agenda. I went back to work as a second grade teacher this year and there was just no way. It's summer time now and so I think right after I pop out those 4 post placement reports I am going to catch old readers up. :)

Thank you to all those who sent me comments wondering if all was well. We are doing great. The kids have grown so much and they are so well adjusted that I sometimes forget they have some special needs that their peers don't have. We are just loving life and loving God and taking the craziness one day at a time!

Be back soon!
:) Krista

Downtown Charlotte

2010-05-14T20:32:00.000-07:00

When my brother, sister-in-law, and nephew were here the week before Christmas we took one evening to explore downtown (ironically also called uptown) Charlotte all decorated for Christmas. It was freezing cold (literally), but we lasted from late afternoon until the Panthers/Vikings game ended. No small feat with 5 kids and their 4 parents!

A Thank You to My Mom

2010-05-08T19:27:00.000-07:00

Thank you for having me. I loved it when you used to tell me that you wanted 3 kids and you just knew I was a girl because that is what you wanted.

Thank you for feeding us a healthy diet, even before healthy was cool. ;)

But thank you also for knowing when a good excuse for chocolate or ice cream was.

Thank you for spending time teaching me to sew, I still use that skill and you would be proud if you could have seen some of the cool costumes I have made for the kids.

Thank you for all the times you walked with me around Balboa Island, took me out of school for a ditch day to Knott's Berry Farm, and took me shopping. Some of my best memories.

Thank you for being willing to bend your rules when you knew we were worthy of your trust and for not bending them when they were there for good reason.

Thank you for letting us be involved in all kinds of activities from sports to plays to youth group.

Thank you for allowing us to do the things we could afford to do and thank you for saying no when we couldn't afford them.

Thank you for giving me a love of the beach, but also for putting lots of sunscreen on me.

Thank you for sharing your love of little kids with me. I know you would just adore your 5 grandkids.

Thank you for reading to me every night, taking me to the library, and buying me books on special occasions.

Thank you for the summer trip we took around the whole west side of America. It was so fun to explore together and have you all to myself for a couple weeks.

Thank you for teaching me to bake chocolate chip cookies and I'm sorry about the time you got on the phone and I just started adding ingredients by myself.

Thank you for letting me crawl into bed with you when I was scared or hurting, even though I am sure you slept much better when I wasn't there.

Written Mother's Day 2010, my 11th without my mom.

I'm Gonna Like Me!

2010-04-30T20:06:00.001-07:00

The other night I was reading the kids a book called "I'm Gonna Like Me : Letting Off a Little Self-Esteem" during our (almost) nightly book reading and/or Bible study time. It's a cute little children's story about liking yourself and being proud of all the things that make you different and special. I was talking to the kids about self esteem because I think it is really important and is something teachable, to an extent. When we were done with the book I decided to go around and ask them what they really like about themselves. I had no clue what they were going to say. Sophie piped right up and said, "I love that I have a family." How sweet is that?

True though. They are all very proud to have a family. Obviously something most kids don't think about. They are always thrilled to point me out to their friends at school and church when I am with them. One of the things that makes our kids unique is their past. They really appreciate things most kids have never been without. And while it is heartbreaking that they haven't always had a family to care for them, it is part of their own powerful testimony.

Our Favorite Christmas Lights

2010-04-30T07:20:00.000-07:00

One of Kevin's coworkers goes all out to celebrate Christmas with an awesome display of Christmas lights each year. He starts putting them up at the beginning of November. He is so serious about it that when they moved a couple years ago they bought this house over some others because it was a corner lot with a lot more space for lights! Mark does a great job and our kids think he is just so cool. Don't tell Mark this (Kevin is afraid his ego would inflate too much ;) ) but when the kids are playing at home the boys often say their name is Mark. How funny!

Sophie and I took Uncle Noah, Aunt Maggie, and Henry over to see them one night. Of course Henry really liked them too!

Christmas Visitors

2010-04-26T15:03:00.000-07:00

The day following the cookie party Uncle Noah (my brother), Aunt Maggie, and the kids only cousin Henry came for a visit. This is their second timing visiting since the kids came home and we were so thrilled they were coming for 5 days! It is so much fun to have family around for the holidays. So my next few posts will be about all the great fun we had leading up to Christmas.

I had asked Maggie before they came to visit if she would teach the kids about some of the Hanukah traditions she grew up with. She treated us all to the most amazing latkes and homemade applesauce and taught the kids the dreidel game. Thanks, Aunt Maggie!

Christmas Cookies!

2010-04-24T20:07:00.000-07:00

The girls did a Christmas cookie decorating party last year and had a blast so asked to do it again this year. We didn't have enough going on the last week of school before winter break ;) so we decided to do it then! We did it on Friday after school. Sugar cookies to decorate and gingerbread to cut. We had a very sweet time! (A neighbor and I planned a party for the boys too that week. We were too busy keeping those little guys occupied to get pictures though!)

Christmas Cheer

2010-04-24T19:28:00.000-07:00

The kids' activities kept us super busy the week before their winter break started. All 4 kids had class parties (thankfully different days and times), the girls had observation days in dance (they are each in ballet, hip-hop/jazz, acro, and tap), and the first graders had a holiday singing production. What a week. Here is some of the fun!

Christmas Whimsy

2010-04-13T09:51:00.000-07:00

I love the whole Christmas season. There is nothing like cuddling up on the couch in tree lit room munching on wintery snacks with a warm drink. I hope my kids always remember those times too and feeling of importance and togetherness the whole season brings.

My decorating is pretty traditional Pottery Barn style. I do love a little whimsy added in here and there. The kids love the Santa's Village. My grandpa was a carpenter and had a big house he built and decorated with my grandma that had all the elves snacking on cookies and such. (At least that is how I remember it.) I would stare at that house for hours. Grandma and Grandpa's house was a very magical place for all us grandkids. There was always something cooking from scratch, whimsical decorations handmade by the two of them, and the coolest play house ever built to pretend in. This village reminds me of how I felt when I was a kid and I would go there to visit.

Julian's Christmas Lego Train

Some of my favorite ornaments:

My favorite childhood ornament.

Nothing is sweeter than a tree full of ornaments made with love and hung with pride.

Another of mine from when I was a kid.

One I remember hanging on our family tree when I was a kid.

One of my favorites that Kevin and I bought to decorate our tree the first year we were married.

Cookies from Auntie Bea's!

2010-04-13T09:32:00.000-07:00

My cousin took her personal cookie, cake, and cupcake making talents to a whole new level this last year and started a small business selling her delicious and adorable baked goods to friends and the local community where she lives near Sacramento, California. Were we ever excited to be her guinea pigs for seeing how her cookies shipped! Perfectly well, by the way. They arrived all in tact and packaged up beautifully. The personalized sugar cookies and gingerbread tasted as good as they look too. Thanks, Bethany! We heart Auntie Bea's Bakery!

Decking the Halls

2010-03-29T08:50:00.000-07:00

We had a great evening of decorating the tree while watching A Charlie Brown Christmas and and drinking hot cocoa. Or at least I think that is what we watched (maybe we just listened to music or watched another movie or drank orange juice.... It is nearly Easter!). Regardless we had a great time and our tree was decked out festively. I was clearly too busy decorating the tree to get many decent pictures and the ones that I got only show half the family. Oh well. Sometimes life happens without the camera. (Gasp!)

Regardless I remember the kids being so excited to pull out their own ornament boxes this year and recall the ones they made and were given from the previous year. So special for them to get to have these kinds of traditions and memories.

The Nutcracker

2010-03-29T08:41:00.000-07:00

On the Saturday after Thanksgiving we went to see the girls dance studio's version of The Nutcracker. They do a wonderful job and it puts us in the holiday spirit. This year we went with a few of our neighbors to dinner at Carrabba's and then the show. We all had a wonderful night. I am starting to think the girls are going to figure out they can audition to be in The Nutcracker next season though. We'll see!

Thanksgiving Day

2010-03-25T07:48:00.000-07:00

Very early in the morning Tate got up with me and we made the pumpkin pie.

The kids love watching the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade all morning long.

Lily makes the Jell-O the night before and the topping with me in the morning.

My sweet potatoes watching me make the sweet potatoes!

They spent all their free time that day making the Christmas Lego train to go around the tree. Nothing is wrong with our TV, it just photographs funny.

We were so busy with preparations we were still in our pajamas at lunch time!

Tate set this table all by himself! He made those napkin rings out of toilet paper rolls at kindergarten. How funny is that?

I didn't have the heart to tell him that napkin rings don't usually stand up in the middle of the plate. He was too proud! And besides, they are so cute!

The kids made all the place cards from their handprint turkeys. Love it!

Tate talking to one of his aunties on the phone while he watches the turkey cooking. These kids all adore their aunties and talking on the phone when we can't be together!

Another perfect turkey! Kevin makes one every year.

These two entertain me while I finish up everything else. I love their singing and dancing.

Feeling especially thankful for kids who love each other so much and get along like best friends. Kevin and I are always amazed by their sweetness. They have not got the memo, somehow, that brothers and sister often times argue, but we like it that way so we aren't telling! ;)

You know you are going to have a good day when you have three pies in your kitchen!

About to start the meal with Kevin's wonderful parents.

They all like the turkey legs so we have to play paper, rock, scissors for it!

Cheers and prayers of thanksgiving for so many blessings!

Thanksgiving Eve

2010-03-25T07:37:00.000-07:00

I LOVE Thanksgiving. We all do, actually. We love the smells, the food, the cooking, and the hanging out together. It helps us realize so much of what we have to be thankful for.

We start our prep the night before. We always go out to eat and then come home to get things started.

Sophie peeled and sliced the apples for the apple pie.

Keaton stayed right by her to enjoy the peels. What a funny dog!

Julian made the cranberry orange sauce all be himself! It made the whole house smell delicious and it tasted great!

Kevin and I made the brine and got the turkey in his bath.

Soph finished up that fabulous apple pie! Doesn't she look proud? :) Love that girl! She is such a great helper. Every mama needs one just like her.

Christmas Card Picture

2010-03-25T06:01:00.000-07:00

The day before Thanksgiving, you read that right folks, I had the kids get up in the morning and get their previous years Christmas PJs on to try to get a cute picture to use for our Christmas cards. Of course the smiles seemed fake or someone wasn't looking or eyes were closed. You know the picture in my head? I never got it. But as soon as I let them start goofing off I got an even better one. We ended up using this funny one on our card.

Merry Christmas!

A Visit with Santa

2010-03-25T05:55:00.001-07:00

We visited Santa early this year as well. Last year we waited in a long line. This year we went on a week night just before Thanksgiving. We think Southpark Mall has the cutest Santa around, as long as you don't mind a little southern accent! (We don't!) He is the sweetest old man and he has been very good to the kids, even last year when he couldn't understand their English very well. He apparently has ties to the big guy too because those lucky kids did get their Christmas wishes, and it wasn't green beans!

Keaton had some fun while we were away too! I guess you now know why we usually close the doors when we aren't home. He may be getting up there in dog years, but he plays like a puppy!

2nd Annual Christmas Shopping Date

2010-03-25T05:44:00.001-07:00

Last year Kevin and I had some friends watch the kids for us while we went Christmas shopping together. We had such a good time that we decided to make a day of it this year. Kevin took a day off while the kids were in school and we got the majority of their Christmas shopping done. We made a budget, had the cash in an envelope and off we went! It was a really fun date. We went to lunch, Target (2 Targets actually), a sporting goods store, the mall, Learning Express, and we got some online shopping done too. And home in time to pick the kids up from school at 2. Whew!

We did this the week before Thanksgiving because we wanted to beat the crowds.

The funniest part was that the kids knew we were doing this and it drove them crazy. We had already asked if they had any Christmas wishes. We kept telling them it didn't matter because we already knew what we would get them.... broccoli and green beans! So when we walked into Target and saw this display of canned green beans we had to take a picture.

When the kids were home from school we told them they could have one peek at the presents and told them they could see a picture. They were not amused! Ha, ha.

Keaton

2010-03-25T05:37:00.000-07:00

We have 7 in our family. Call us crazy but we all adore our dog so much that we consider him as much of a family member as any of the rest of us. Kevin and I got him within a year of getting married and he is 9 now. He is the sweetest thing in the world. He makes us all very happy.

Cookies!

2010-03-25T05:16:00.000-07:00

My great blogging catch up is still underway and it looks like we are rounding the corner to Thanksgiving! Okay, that still puts me ridiculously behind, but I need to stay focused and motivated. :)

Here's the story...

Our sweet little Tater Tot had a series of colds this winter that came with a side of ear infection. Poor guy. For this first one I took him up to the doctor we go to. We drive nearly an hour to see a pediatrician because I wanted someone who understood internationally adopted kids to check my kids over, test them for various issues, and understand what our family might be going through. We do love our doctor. He is the dad of 2 biological kids and 2 his family adopted from Russia, so he has been there and done that. He's terrific. I am stalling on finding a local doctor now that they are over all of the tests and shots they needed. He is terrific! But when a child has an ear infection I am thankful to the CVS minute clinic 5 minutes from my house! So easy and perfect for sniffles and sneezes.

My kids are definitely Ukrainians at heart. When they have an ear infection they like something wrapped around their heads at all times. Tate wears a beanie. Sophie had one last year and tied her head up with scarves in typical Ukrainian Babushka fashion. Her detsky dom mamas would have been proud!

Anyway, back to our story. One week night a bunch of our small group was sick so we cancelled and ended up having a family night at home. Tate was upstairs watching a movie on the couch (as is the custom for sick kids in our house). The other three and I decided to bake some cookies. I had found some Peppermint Hershey Kisses that I thought the kids would like and they had a sugar cookie recipe on the bag. The results were.... very sweet! The kids loved them, of course. What's not to love about the taste of sugar, bright colors, and something you made yourself when you are a kid? I think I will stick with chocolate next time. :D

Operation Christmas Child Shoeboxes

2010-03-23T06:09:00.000-07:00

This year I had the kids get involved with the Samaritan's Purse OCC shoeboxes for a Christmas Project. Kevin and I have done shoeboxes for years and have even volunteered at the local headquarters, which was really cool! I thought this was a project the kids would understand. They were excited the boxes might even go to kids who are orphans like they were. They couldn't wait to help out!

I let them pick everything themselves. They had a blast! This is a good way to get your kids into a project they can relate too. They kept telling me that they wished they had received a shoebox when they were at detsky dom. :) I hope 4 kids somewhere around the world felt the love!

Outtakes From Grandfather Mountain

2010-03-23T05:55:00.000-07:00

Someday Julian might not appreciate this, but I think this whole series is hilarious. Kevin decided to take a picture of the kids and I sitting up on the rock. Keaton decided to be in the picture. The pictures tell the rest of the story!

Poor Juju!

Not quite sure why Kevin never put the camera down to help the poor boy, but what could he do? This is always how Kev takes pictures. If I ask him to take a few pictures he takes about 10 really quick and puts the camera down. Silly PAPArazzi! He is definitely not a photographer, but he tries to help out!

Grandfather Mountain 2009 Part 2

2010-03-23T05:26:00.000-07:00

Subtitled: I will never catch up to real time blogging, but I don't want to skip things like I did last year to catch up. (Seriously, I think I may have skipped blogging the kiddos birthdays last year! Their first American birthdays. Uh! Don't even ask if the girls birthday party pictures were backed up when our computer crashed either. I don't like to think about that.)

I really ought to just have a day for catching up on blogging. I can't decide the best way to do this. Devote a day to blogging, try to make a post a day, etc. I have a ridiculous amount of things on my plate and not enough time to do them all. But this is the scrapbook of our family life so I don't want to skip large chunks either. The real problem is that when you are this far behind on blogging you don't remember all the sweetest details you want to write. :( But I'm going to press on.

Great day that exhausted everyone! I am hoping we can make it up there a little earlier next year though.

Grandfather Mountain 2009 Part 1

2010-02-11T04:54:00.000-08:00

This year we made our annual trip up to Grandfather Mountain a few weeks late. Sophie and Tate both got sick on the weekends we were supposed to go during prime viewing weekends, but we decided to make it up there anyway because it is such a great family day. The place is gorgeous year round, with or without the fall colors!

Aw, Shucks!

2010-02-07T09:06:00.000-08:00

After Halloween I got to go on a field trip with Tate's kindergarten class to the cutest farm! It's a corn farm called Aw, Shucks! They had everything you can imagine there for kids to run around, play, feed, ride, and see. The day flew by so quickly and we all got so tired out there. :)

Isn't is the sweetest farm you've ever seen? Perfect for kindergartens to spend a day in the sun learning and playing!

Keaton took advantage of being left home alone all day. I found him curled up on a couch he isn't even allowed to go on. Too cute!

Happy Halloween

2010-02-06T17:02:00.000-08:00

The kids came up with some fun ideas for costumes this year. They were nearly Santa, Mrs. Claus, an elf, and Rudolph, but Santa bailed out to be wild west sheriff and the rest of them didn't feel like they could pull it off without the big guy so they came up with other ideas.

Bo Peep

Wild West Sheriff

A Purple Fairy

A Wizard

We celebrated with the neighbors while waiting for the sun to set. It actually ended up raining for the trick or treating so they came back soaking wet, but still got more than enough candy to make a kid happy.

Uncle Ron & Aunt Jacquie

2010-01-31T06:18:00.000-08:00

We were happy to get to spend an evening with Kevin's Uncle Ron and Aunt Jacquie when they visited his parents in late October. We do not get to see this part of the family enough and we were thrilled to spend some time together and for them to get to meet the kids. The best part is that we will get to see them again when we are in Orlando for Ryan and Emily's wedding in about a month!

Happy Birthday to Me!

2010-01-30T11:43:00.000-08:00

The day before Halloween I turned 31 and celebrated with the family. I won't post any pictures because, let's just say there is a reason I take most of the pictures in the family. I couldn't not share my wonderful cake though. A key lime pie ice cream cake from Bruster's Homemade Ice Cream. My husband loves me that much!

We Interrupt Blog Catch Up

2010-01-24T18:08:00.000-08:00

to bring you this message...

18 months ago today, our kids stepped off the plane in Charlotte and became US citizens. That was a long day. Life was so different then, just a year and a half ago. I love looking back, but I don't really miss that time. It was very chaotic because we were trying to get to know each other, trying to communicate, get organized, settle into our new routine, and still have fun with family and friends.

Their grammar isn't perfect and they are still learning English words (just today Sophie asked me what a lightbulb was), but we are a family through and through. Life is so good and we thank God for our many blessings everyday.

I know that I had the best of intentions for staying on top of everything in those days, but I know I never got out all the thank you notes I wanted to in the last 18 months. So to all our family and friends who have spoiled us with your vacation time, bringing us meals, prayers, friendship, play dates, hand me downs, gift cards, listening to us brag about our sweet kids, and every other little thing you have all done for us, THANK YOU!

My friend Emily came to our house today (coincidently) to take some family pictures. I will post them when I get them later this week. :)

Book Character Day

2010-01-22T15:11:00.000-08:00

The kids' school puts on an annual Book Character Day every year for Halloween. Last year I didn't get any decent pictures, so I made sure to snap a couple before we were off to school this year. Now I love book character day as much as the next guy, but I must admit it would be nice if it wasn't coinciding with Halloween itself. The guidelines state that no Halloween or store bought costumes are allowed, and costumes should be put together from items you already have in your home. The books must be chosen by the kids and they have to be a book they have read this school year. We followed the guidelines and here is what we came up with.

Sophie, as Pinkalicious. She even had the idea to make her hair pink!

Julian, as "Diver Dan" from his favorite Lego series easy reader. Easy Peasy!

Lily, as Eloise. She is pretty much the spittin' imagine anyway and wouldn't you know the week before Halloween we got this skirt in a bag of hand-me-downs! Absolutely perfect!

Tate, as an adorable scarecrow. They do Scarecrow Day in kindgergarten. These overalls were also from a hand-me-down bag we got last year. Lily wore them last year on Scarecrow Day and so I just pulled off the girly-girl patches and daisy trim from last year and put on some farm boy ones.

Pumpkin Patch

2010-01-16T13:40:00.000-08:00

We visited our local pumpkin patch, Hunter Farms, one day after school. The kids and Keaton ran through the corn maze, picked out tiny pumpkins, and enjoyed all the cute fall decor.

On the way home from the pumpkin patch I parked my car across the street from my very favorite fall tree this year. It is in someone's front yard, but it is a farm house way back from the road. The picture doesn't do the tree justice, but it was the most gorgeous shades of yellow and orange. Every year tree change differently depending on the weather (moisture, temperatures, etc.) so you never know where the most beautiful colors might be.

3rd Annual Small Group Pumpkin Carving Party

2010-01-07T06:24:00.001-08:00

We hosted our 3rd Annual Small Group Pumpkin Carving Party the week of Halloween. We had our usual fare, pumpkin soup, homemade pizza, caramel apples, and all those good seasonal treats.

A couple days beforehand someone suggested wearing a costume if you wanted to. There was no way my kids were going to wear their costumes to eat messy pizza and carve pumpkins in. Besides, I wasn't done with making them yet! But when some of their friends arrived in costume they went upstairs and came down with random dress up pieces on. Hope that explains the Mickey Mouse hat paired with the pirate shirt!

Sam is just precious, scoping out the pumpkins.

Look at this sweet pizza eater!

Andrea brought her parents, who happened to be visiting. They were so excited to catch up with everyone and meet the kids.

Then the carving began. As usual, our kids had wild ideas about what to carve their pumpkins into.

Thankfully we had lots of great helpers!

And how cute are Jennie and Baby Jane? Look at those tiny pigtails!

I'm the family pumpkin drawer. The kids come to me with their idea and I try to sketch it in pencil and not disappoint. :/

The adorable Addison Owens looks up to no good!

Caramel apples!

The kids' big ideas this year.

Tate's train.

Lily's mermaid. (Seriously, ever heard of a Jack-o-Lantern? Where do these ideas come from?)

Sophie's Minnie Mouse.

Julian's sheriff.

A couple others:

Happy trick-or-treating!

Family Pumpkin Carving

2010-01-01T15:57:00.001-08:00

The night before our annual small group pumpkin carving party, we carved a couple of our family pumpkins with the kids. We had a boys' design and a girls' design.

Ready!

The guys plan out their jack-o-lantern. (Or Jack-o-Lan as Tate called it.)

I thought eating the pumpkin insides was something the girls would only do their first year home. I was wrong.

Cute Jack.

Crazy Bat.

All ready to greet our friends for the party!

Dates with Mama or Pop

2010-01-01T12:15:00.000-08:00

One thing we try to be very intentional about is spending time with the kids alone, or 2 at a time. Kevin generally does a Costco run 2 or 3 Saturdays a month and often takes a couple kids with him while I do whatever else needs to be done with the others. I often take the girls with me to do "girl things" while the boys will do "boy things" with Kevin. Sometimes they get one on one time with us as well. Besides Tate, who had me to himself all school year last year, we rarely get to talk to them one on one and spend quality time where they are allowed to have us all to themselves. So we take time out to do that occasionally. Something like a trip to the market can be special if you make it that way. :)

I remember this trip to Target was just Lily and I. I let her pick out whatever she wanted at Starbucks. The lady put lots of extra carmel swirls in it for her too! She sat in the cart and we browsed around at whatever she wanted to besides getting the things we went for. Can't you just see the sparkle in her eyes? :) I love that!

Our sweet Lily Grace. We love you so much! You are super silly, sassy, full of spunk, love to have a good time, and can be very quiet if it suits you. Most people who spend time with you will comment on your contagious laughter. You have the most awesome laugh! (It was one of the first things we noticed about you.) You love to read, shop, play with your dolls, drink Starbucks, and help around the house. You are a very good listener and an awesome helper. You will make a fabulous mom some day. I can't wait to see what life holds for you!

Sophie's Fall Performance

2009-12-31T07:47:00.000-08:00

Seems like every couple months we have a school seasonal performance. Fall was the third graders and Sophie and her class treated us to a night of poetry and autumn songs.

Sophie in her fall colors.

Tate and Kevin stayed home this time. Tate was having a rough day.

Sweet sisters.

They always have the cutest seasonal artwork made by the kids.

Of the 6 houses on our cul-du-sac, 4 have third grade girls!

The other girls all look like sisters!

Neighbors!

Oops!

2009-12-30T21:06:00.001-08:00

I deleted several comments without replying to them or even reading a couple of them! So sorry to whoever they were all from. :(

Fall Highlights

2009-12-03T05:14:00.000-08:00

Well I started this post about a month ago and then nothing! Let me see here...

Since it is beginning to look a lot like Christmas and I promised to blog at least sometimes I thought I better to a fall photo dump!

Let me see if I can sum up all the things that might have been little fall posts in about 10 pictures.

Tate came home from kindergarten with a shiner. It wasn't from a punch though, just a dramatic fall on the playground climbing wall. Just as it healed he pretty much did it again. He has a scar there too. Poor kid!

Sophie got her splits. She had been working at them for quite some time and one day she came home from dance and announced she could do them! She was so pleased with herself and I was so proud of her for working towards her goal.

The girls started up dance again. This time 4 classes each. 2 classes they are in together, ballet and acro. Jazz/hip hop and tap are done by age so they aren't together. This mama was smart and lucky and they are in classes that are at the same time though with a friend from around the block so we carpool. It's great!

The boys both played soccer this fall. They enjoyed it, though Tate liked the "snacks" better than the game. Gotta love little boys!

We spent lots of cold Saturday mornings at the soccer fields. Thank goodness the Y is right next to Dunkin' Donuts!

Uncle Jeff and Aunt Melissa came for a visit, but I don't have any pictures worth posting from the trip. :( What's up with that?

We made a couple more trips to the lake.

The kids played and acted like their normal fun-loving and silly selves! (I don't post much about their normal day to day, just major events. But mostly they just have a ball together and are the best of friends.)

Sophie started to write pen pal letters to my good childhood friend's daughter, Sofia, who is also in third grade. So fun!

We walked to school most mornings, until it started to get too cold for us wimps!

Sophie went to her friend's Harry Potter birthday costume party dressed as a perfect Luna Lovegood.

Cocoa season started!

And the dreaming of Christmas gifts began... (That is an American Girl catalog, by the way.)

Congratulations to Randy and Rebecca!

2009-11-22T08:31:00.000-08:00

Astronaut Randolph Bresnik and Wife Have Baby Daughter Named Abigail

Randy and Rebecca are acquaintances of ours through Ukrainian adoption. They adopted their 3 year old son from Ukraine shortly after we came home and I was able to talk with Rebecca on the phone to answer questions she had and share experiences and stories.

I was so excited when I popped on the computer this morning and saw this story that I thought I would send them a congratulations on our blog. Not sure that they read it anymore, but worth a shot. So happy for the four of you!

Now as soon as Randy finishes his mission and returns to Earth he will meet his new baby girl, Abigail Mae. :)

Best wishes and God Bless to the Bresnik Family.

Oops!

2009-11-21T09:53:00.000-08:00

I was just putting together a calendar for next year and figured out I was a month early on my last post! ;) Oh well. Chances are I never would have made the video the week before Christmas (especially since we will have family visiting then) so we will just enjoy it anyway. I was thinking that the kids had been home 6 months on Christmas Eve last year, but I read last Christmas I wrote 5 months and yes that is correct!

18 months

2009-11-18T20:52:00.000-08:00

I just figured out yesterday that today would be 18 months since the day that we first met the kids. :) What a day! So I put together some clips from our home movies to show you a little bit of what it was like when we were first getting to know them.

Wordless Wednesday

2009-11-17T19:45:00.000-08:00

Camping?

2009-10-16T08:00:00.000-07:00

The other half of Labor Day weekend we spent camping at the lake. Was it really camping though?

We did pitch a tent.

Keaton was happy as could be.

The kids played in the tent.

No need for the spa, the girls gave themselves mud baths.

Here is the incriminating picture that proves we weren't really roughing it though! We were at Kevin's parent's new place and had real baths and showers, and a kitchen.

Still, we cooked over an open fire.

And we roasted marshmallows for S'mores.

And we ate all our meals outside. (There was no furniture in the house yet anyway!)

The very best part was the sunrise kayak rides in our pajamas! :)

We had promised the kids we would go camping over the summer, but we didn't get around to it. So this is how we fulfilled the promise. It was fun family time. :) Hopefully once it warms up again we will really rough it somewhere.

One of these days I may catch up on my blogging and you will actually know what we are up to these days. ;) I uploaded these pictures weeks ago. I need to get myself excited about blogging again.

Carnival

2009-09-21T10:45:00.001-07:00

Every labor day weekend there is a carnival downtown.

We decided to go on Friday night to kick off our long weekend.

Being near Lowe's Motor Speedway there are always race cars at these kind of events.

This time there was a pig car too.

Of course we sampled the fair fare for dinner. Footlong corndogs for the boys.

A smoked turkey leg for the girls. I had a delicious Greek chicken salad and Kevin had a cheesesteak.

And being in the South apparently means people like Hillbilly Bob will be at the carnival selling homemade soda in tin cans. Gotta love the South! Isn't he cute in his overalls?

We all drank our weight in fresh lemonade. Yum!

And the kids road a couple rides.

We had some ice cream before calling it a night. We were so lucky this year to have beautiful weather for Labor Day weekend. Usually it is almost unbearably hot and humid. I think this is the first time I really enjoyed the carnival without melting.

The Second First Day of School

2009-09-18T05:01:00.000-07:00

That Friday Tate finally got to start school too. He had been walking to school all week and finally got to stay!

One of our stories the night before. Can you see how excited this little guy is?

His first lunch, packed and ready.

Picked out his own outfit.

Tate was around the school all year last year. His speech therapy was there and he was coming to class parties and helping me in the classrooms with things. It made for a very easy transition this year. Tate stopped in front of the school to talk to the principal. They have been anticipating Tate's start in kindergarten since last year. Our kids are well known around the school and Tate was very welcomed there. He is a really sweet and funny kid and all the teachers and staff love talking to him. He was feeling the love and asked me to take his picture with the principal. :)

See that little guy marching down the hall in front of everyone? That's Tate! The same kid who 4 months ago sobbed at the thought of anything out of his normal routine marched ahead of our whole family (including Kevin's parents) and called out, "C'mon guys! Follow me!" So happy for him with this new found confidence. Made it easier on everyone. Lily's class is a few up the hall from him so we had practiced walking to his class all week when we took her in.

Pausing for one last picture before the big moment. :)

After his first day of school. He had a great day. His paper ribbon says, "I survived my first day of kindergarten!" So cute. He also brought a paper home that said his favorite part of the day was "playing outside." No surprises there. He made an adorable painted turtle out of a large stone too. Tate is lucky because his teacher used to be the art teacher a few years back and she loves to incorporate art and cooking into her lessons. Makes kindergarten so much fun!

A few other picture from the first week of school. These were from the 3 older kids 2nd day.

The First, First Day of School

2009-09-17T05:08:00.000-07:00

At the kids' school they start kindergarteners in a staggered schedule so while the other three had their first day on Tuesday August 25, Tate didn't start until that Friday.

If they look half asleep that is because they are! This picture was taken at about 6:45. I threw caution into the wind and let them choose their own first day outfits. I am a Type A so it took everything in me not to pick for them. Sophie has a hard time making choices though so it is something I am trying to give her experience in. I cant figure out if it is because she had no choices the first 8 years of her life or if it is because she is a pleaser and is always afraid of choosing the wrong one. :( Anyway, this is what they chose. Pretty cute! Tate was there too, but I chose this picture because they look the most awake in it. ;)

Walking to school. Kevin and his parents joined us for our first day walk. Most kids where we live ride the bus. Coming from southern California this concept is foreign to me. The bus picks them up so early! So we leave our house at 7 (school starts at 7:30) and walk. It only takes us about 15 minutes and the dog and I get our walking out of the way too. I pick them up in the car. All the neighbors think I'm crazy to not use the bus system, but I enjoy the time with the kids.

We're there! I always try to block out things like the school name, our address, etc. in pictures for privacy reasons. The school does have a name. ;)

Lily's teacher loved her apple! She is a really sweet teacher and Lily adores her.

Home again and ready for homework. The first week of homework was mostly for me, filling out 10 forms time 4 kids. I mean really, how many times does the school need to know our phone number and who to call in an emergency? And why can't I save paper and do it once for the four kids, or just verify that the information has not changed since last year?

Anyway, the kids had a great first day. I got them their favorite Smencils (Smelly Pencils), animal pencil toppers that are really popular, and these little Japanese erasers that look like food to celebrate. New school supplies are part of the back to school fun!

Night Before School Starts Rituals

2009-09-09T12:48:00.001-07:00

T'was the night before school started....

Time to clean up.

Polish up.

Set out clothes.

Settle down to read.

Love letters.

Lunches packed.

Meet the Teacher

2009-09-08T08:03:00.001-07:00

I am getting back on the blog wagon. I have so many things I need to cross off my to-do list and this is certainly not one of them, so I blog between crossing things off. :) I enjoy it for the most part and I am multi-tasking anyway... (eating some pasta for lunch and catching up on Facebook while the pictures load :P ).

Looking back a few weeks and in the process of catching up to real time in blogging...

The kids get to find out which class they are in, go meet their teachers and have a peek into their new room, and drop off their huge bags of school supplies the week before school starts. For kindergarten (or kin-ger-garten as Tate calls it) it is an actual set time when you come in and listen to the teacher explain about all the fun the year will bring and how best to make the year successful. For the others it was just a drop in open house kind of situation. All the kids got great teachers this year and I couldn't be more thrilled for them!

Tate with Mrs. L. She used to be the art teacher a few years back but she is a wonderful K teacher as well. Tate is one lucky little guy to have such a creative and fun teacher.

Never imagined such a change was possible for Tate in such a short period of time. In the last 4 months or so he has gone from a very anxious child to one who faces new challenges with excitement and a only a small, healthy amount of fear. It has been a miracle to watch this little guy! He has been in speech therapy for about a year now and he had lots of challenges to overcome. He is still working on these challenges, but has made such huge strides! He had such a hard time learning in the past that we really thought there was a disability but his goal seems to be proving us wrong once we have made up our minds about what he is capable of. I love that! It will be another year of dramatic growth and pure joy for Tate. I would not have believed he would be so ready for kindergarten even 4 months ago.

Both girls started up dance class again too. They are loving it and are in a couple classes together, which is so much fun for them!

Julian with Ms. A. I think she is a great teacher and I am so excited for him. His teacher last year was not a good fit for him and wasn't very supportive of all he was going through. She could not seem to appreciate all the things he was overcoming and that made it a little hard. I am so optimistic about Ms. A though, because she seems to get him a whole lot better and I think he will thrive academically in a more positive environment this year.

Sophie with Mrs. N. Sophie worked so hard on her reading this past year and over the summer. She is probably nearing grade level in her reading and is so proud of herself for being able to read chapter books like all her peers. I know she will continue to impress us with her hard work and determination. She is able to laugh at her own mistakes, and that serves her so well at school and at home. :)

Lily's teacher is sweet as can be, just like Lily! We are so impressed with Lily's academic abilities. She is quite the thinker and so bright! She has been reading above grade level since mid-year last school year and continues to climb the ladder passing many of her peers. It is hard to believe she spoke so little English only a year ago. She is a much more confident child and students than the little girl we sent to school last year. Do you remember that she cried every day at school? Hard to believe that was the same Lily Grace. This girl is one to watch!

As we walked out of the last classroom we noticed the strange sunshiney day with a little rain mixed in had turned out beautifully. There was a rainbow over the school so we stepped out to get a picture. We decided it was the sign of a great school year to come!

Julian asked me to take this picture on the way to our car. He thought the leaf looked like a heart. What a little sweetie, huh?

Road Trip!

2009-09-03T07:18:00.000-07:00

Our good friends the B's came to visit us for 8 days in the middle of August. It was so good to see them and have our kids play. Good stuff. We wore a path between our house and the pool, ate at the local hot spots, drank lots of sweet tea, had way too much Bruster's Homemade Ice Cream, and had a lake day too. But toward the end of the trip it was supposed to rain for a couple days. We decided that 6 kids in the house for a couple days wouldn't be much fun and Kevin had taken a couple days off of work so we decided to head somewhere fun for a night. We looked at Myrtle Beach but it was, of course, going to rain there too. We settled on Downtown Atlanta. All the things we wanted to try there were indoors so rain wouldn't matter. We booked a hotel and left the next morning.

And we're off!

One of our favorite landmarks is this giant peach water tower in South Carolina because we think it looks like a hiney. Yep, we are mature. Makes the kids laugh for miles.

Kevin had his first Del Taco since we moved 5 years ago. Yuck! I had to make a pit stop about 20 minutes later. Made me sick and glad we moved far away from Del Taco, which I never liked anyway.

Then we split into a boy car and a girl car. Girls went to the American Girl Store and the boys went to World of Coca-Cola.

3 girls and their dolls.

So cute! We didn't eat at the Bistro, but we checked it out. :)

Each girl got to pick an outfit for their doll and a t-shirt for themselves. It was a tough choice!

We took this picture the next day since the boys didn't take any on their special trip to World of Coke. Julian and Tate loved drinking soda from the bottle!

We ended up going to Hard Rock for dinner, which was fun.

Tate in music heaven!

G trying to look like one waiter who was wearing really dark sunglasses in the already dark restaurant.

Night swim at the hotel pool on the roof and then off to bed!

A great buffet breakfast was included in our hotel package. We were at the Hilton and purchased the "Aquarium Package." It was a great deal and we had adjoining rooms so that was fun!

Then we were off to the Georgia Aquarium. We spent a few hours checking out all the sea life. So neat. It is a really nice aquarium and we all loved it.

How cute are these buddies?

Then Corner Bakery for lunch!

Back up the hill to the hotel and we drove back home.

A quick, but fun filled trip!

To Blog, or Not To Blog...

2009-09-02T20:33:00.000-07:00

I can't decide. I am weighing the pros and cons of blogging and I can't seem to come to a conclusion. Hmmm..... I either need to keep up with it or drop it all together. In the meantime, have you seen my cute kids lately? ;)

A hodge podge of pictures I would have posted if I was blogging in the last couple months.

Tate celebrated his 6th birthday and got the guitar he has been wanting for so long. He is a natural musician, or at least he has a passion for it.

July 4th

The kids loved their first 4th of July and they celebrated like true Americans. :)

We celebrated the year anniversary of the kids homecoming. They wanted to sleep on our bedroom floor like they did the first week or two that they were here. How cute is that? We had American food for dinner (cheeseburgers and tater tots, etc.) and talked about all the new things they have done in the last year. It is so funny to hear their versions of the stories now and what their thoughts were from before they could tell us.

The girls started back up to dance (they took only occasional summer classes) and the boys started soccer.

We got ready for school to start. This is a picture from back to school shopping on the day they met their teachers.

We hung out around the house and I really got to spend time a lot more time with the kids than I had before. We all loved that!

I met up with my adoption blog mom friend Julie and her (even cuter in person, if that is possible) 3 kids from Hinshaw Happenings. We bonded over dinner at a local burger joint while the kids ate and giggled. So fun to talk to other people who understand what the past year of our lives have been like. Hope to see you guys again someday!

We had friends from California come for a week. The kids had a blast and us adults did too!

There was also lots of swimming (we taught all 4 kids to swim this summer) and plenty of trips to the lake. Kevin's parents' house they built about 40 minutes away is now about finished. I see lots of fun times and good memories with the family at the lake in our future. :)

We crashed our 5 year old iMac last week. That was the bad news of the summer. We still have the laptop and most all our pictures were backed up here, there, or somewhere so that is a good thing.

And then the inevitable happened...

Disney World 2009

2009-07-29T07:39:00.000-07:00

We had a such a wonderful time with family and extended family at Disney World. It was a great bonding time for the 6 of us too. Sure it was hot, humid, and a bit crowded but the kids did it all (and I mean everything) with smiles on their faces and a spring in their step. They are such troopers and so happy to just be living life and part of such an adoring and loving family!

Special Visitors

2009-07-07T11:17:00.000-07:00

The evening of the last day of school we got a surprise telephone call. It was Olya, the wife of our good friend and facilitator of our adoption. We knew that Kostya, Olya, and their son Nikita were visiting the US because we received an email link to pictures. We had missed the email detailing their plan to visit the U.S. and asking if we could spend some time with them because I'd used a hotmail email for the adoption since AOL isn't as compatible with Kostya's email address. So were we sad we missed out on making plans ahead with them and excited it still worked out that they were visiting another local family they had worked with so we could see them.

Michelle from From NC to Ukraine, her four delightful kids (including sweet and adorable Mary), and the Farkovets family joined us the next day at a Sprayground for a picnic lunch and time to catch up. The spot was close to Kevin's work so he was able to take a couple hours for lunch and join us. It was great to see old friends and get to talk with Michelle too. Thankfully all kids need to communicate is water and laughter, so the kids had a ball with Nikita!

One of the funniest parts of the visit was when Tate sat down next to Nikita and I told him to say something to Nikita in Russian. I figured he would say hello. He looked right at Nikita and said, "Machina!" (That means car.) We were all laughing, including Nikita who understands basic conversational English pretty well. Silly Tater-tot. Nikita actually liked to play with Lily best of all. She is very giggly and knows how to have a good time. They played in the fountains together for quite a while. Nikita told Olya, "Lily knows how to have fun!" I thought that was sweet.

As we chatted with Kostya and caught up I said it was a good thing they were visiting when they were because we were leaving in a week to head down to Disney World. They got a surprised look on their faces and said, "So are we!" We made plans to meet back up in Orlando. That made it a bit easier to say good bye to them on that day. :) What a fun coincidence. They also tried to talk us into heading out to California in July. They will be visiting some other friends out there then and that is where we are from, but we will likely not be headed out to California this summer.

Michelle sent me these first two pictures. Thanks, Michelle!

(That is Mary, the little firecracker down in the corner of the picture. If you want to read her adoption story you can click the link to the blog Michelle keeps. She is a much more faithful blogger than I am and she has great advice and anecdotes for adoptive parents. :) )

Can you see why the kids all adore Kostya? He is so playful!

Thanks for the visit Kostya, Olga, and Nikita!
If anyone is interested in getting in contact with our wonderful facilitator from Ukraine you can find him at the Ukraine Christian Adoption website.

Julian the Gymnast

2009-07-05T18:15:00.000-07:00

Just before school got out Julian's gym had an Olympiad Day where we could come watch the skills he has practiced over the school year. Julian is quite the little gymnast. He is tiny and strong as can be, so this sport comes naturally to him. He really enjoyed it and the conditioning he got will help with any other sport he decides to try in the future. I bet he could go pretty far as a gymnast but he has decided to retire ;) and try soccer come fall. His coach was awesome and we would really miss him and the gym except that Lily started class there the very next week. We may have a little gymnast in the family yet.

On the rings:

His favorite skill each week was climbing this rope and ringing the bell at the top. He practically flies up there and the one without the knots in it too. Clearly he is not afraid of heights!

It wasn't a competition, but everyone got medals for participating.

Any other bloggers out there have suggestions for photo uploading? I have always just used the Blogger one on here with pictures I drag from my iPhoto account to my desktop and then upload. It takes forever and sometimes it is tricky to figure out the order Blogger is going to arrange them in. The time it takes is the #1 and only reason I don't blog as much as I wish I did. I often put the kids to bed and come down to post only to realize I am too worn out to start the tedious process. I tried to load them through Photobucket.com for this post. It was quick to upload them but they were all huge. I tried to resize them but ended up scrapping the idea and doing it the same old way after about 30 minutes of playing with it. There must be a secret (that is probably only a secret to me) because some of you moms would not be posting as often as you do if it took you as long as it takes me. I have at least 10 posts in my head, but don't have 10 hours to post them. ;)

Home, Sweet Home

2009-06-29T12:01:00.000-07:00

We just returned from our family (and friends) vacation to Walt Disney World! We had a blast and kicked off the summer right with hot weather, swimming, fast rides, great shows, popsicles, eating out, and spending quality time with loved ones. :) Pictures to follow, of course,

June 17

2009-06-17T07:04:00.000-07:00

A year ago today we went to our appointment at the State Department of Adoptions in Kiev. I don't think that I will ever forget the date. I had probably said it hundreds of times over the previous couple months. We got ready early in the day and went over to find out that our appointment was going to be a little later in the day. I think we walked all over Kiev with Kostya and his family.

We were definitely nervous. The door where we entered is on the side of the building. You walk in and there are stairs immediately to your left. We waited on the stairs for a few minutes and we were called in. We sat in an office on the other side of a coffee sized table from a young lady with light, bright blue eyes. Thankfully Kostya went in with us to translate. It was nice to have a friend there.

I remember talking briefly with the girl before she started telling us about some of the kids available for adoption and showing us their pictures. I specifically remember an adorable little blond boy who was 3, 3 year old boy and girl twins, a set of 3 sisters with beautiful dark hair and eyes, and a set of three brothers. We were probably shown at least 10 different possibilities. None seemed just right. I could not figure out which was the child or children God had sent us to Ukraine to bring home with us. Kevin felt the same way. He just knew it was going to be very clear when we saw them. So far there was no light shining down from above or any playing of the hallelujah chorus. The girl briefly left the room and came back with some more options. I honestly can't remember if there were any others besides our kids in her hands. The second she showed us their pictures and told us about each one I knew it was them. I was actually afraid to look at Kevin because I wasn't sure he would feel the same way I did about them. He had been leaning farther toward 2 than 3 all along. Thankfully he felt the same way that I did. The picture they showed us of Sophie reminded him of me when I was little. Unlike most of the other referral pictures, these kids were playing or smiling.

We walked out of the SDA with a huge sense of relief. The only thing that had scared me about the trip was the not knowing. It was so nice to finally have that part behind us. We met up with Kostya's wife and son on the street lined with vendors outside the SDA. I remember getting cold drinks and talking to Olya all about the kids. Our kids. :)

Last Day of School

2009-06-12T14:10:00.000-07:00

June 10 was the last day of the school year....

I packed 3 lunches for the last time. (I really don't enjoy packing lunches and don't miss getting out of bed in the dark so far this summer.)

I made a quick but fun special last day of school breakfast.

Woke these poor kids up for the last time for a while. As you can see Lily feels the same way about getting up that early as I do.

Took this picture as we got ready to walk to school and wondered....

has it really been 180 school days since this was taken? Look at those tiny kids from the first day of school! What a change.

Tate and I walked back home and wondered how we should spend our last day together. He made my bed for me while I worked on laundry. He laid down on Kevin's side and told me he looked like Papa. (This is how Kevin lays to watch TV.)

We decided to go to the mall.

Kevin met us there for lunch.

Tate and his Pop checking out the boats they were showing that day.

"This one has a tiny kitchen!"

There was even a fire truck.

Then we rushed home to make some treats for the after school party. These were a cute idea I had borrowed from something another mom in Julian's class had made. Can't say that junk food tasted any good, but they were sure cute!

We drove over and picked up the kids from school. They wanted last minute pictures with their teachers and hugs for the friends. We still beat the bus home though so the kids ran up the street to celebrate with their friends.

We celebrated for a bit with friends.

The girls celebrated like girls do...

and the dudes did their thing.

Everyone was so happy, if a bit hot!

Back home for a little last day of school present.

Summer clothes for their Build-A-Bears! (They had been wanting a change of clothes for them.) Sophie got pajamas for hers since she was going to her first real slumber party that night.

Unfortunately we had to make a pit stop at the dentist for Sophie to get her space maintainer put in.

Can you tell we spend a lot of time here? These two are watching a movie in the next chair over.

Then as quickly as we could get her home and packed up Sophie was off to the house next door for a slumber party.

The rest of us continued the last day of school festivities with dinner out and some Brewster's Homemade Ice Cream later on. What a day!

Field Day

2009-06-09T13:26:00.001-07:00

The kids had their field days in late April this year. Smart school didn't wait for the end of the year when the kids would be too hot outside to really enjoy the games. Sophie and Julian both had theirs on the same day and Lily's was a week or two after. Tate and I came and watched the events. Kevin and I think it is silly that the school chose more of a team building type theme than a field day with ribbons and actual winners, but I guess that is our competitive natures speaking. We are proud of all three kids for giving their best athletically and for bringing their good attitudes.

Okay, just when you think that you have mastered the loading pictures backward thing that Blogger has you do, you wind up with another jumbled set. Oh, well. You get the idea.

This picture of Julian cheering on his teammates cracks me up.

These are three of the four little girls who speak Russian in Lily's kindergarten class. Who would have thought? That's Lily, Yana, and Elona. (Missing is Annie.) I would have definitely thought when we changed her name that she would have another Lily in her class before she would have another Elona!

This is Lily with her best friend, Yana. She and Lily co-won the award for "sweetest" girl in the class. How fun is that?

You can tell they just love each other!

Don't they even look a bit alike?

NC Zoo

2009-06-04T07:05:00.000-07:00

A couple of weekends ago we went to the NC Zoo in Asheboro. My friend Sarah and her family gave us a gift card to go as a family when we first brought the kids home. When we got rained out in the fall we decided to wait for some nice spring weather. We picked a perfect day! Sunny, but not too hot. We invited some good friends to come along and enjoy the day. We all had a blast!

Checking out the gators.

You don't want to run into this guy on a dark iceberg! That's Tate (5), Sophie (9), Lily (7), Trent (7), Kate (4), and Julian (8).

My coffee lovers made me take this one! :) (And by coffee we are talking frappucinos. ;) )

The zoo is what is called a natural habitat zoo. Animals aren't contained in small spaces like a typical zoo. Many are able to roam around in an environment similar to where they would live in the wild. In this picture there are some rhinos and elephants in the savannah.

The zoo is divided up into two main sections, North America and Africa. To get from one side to the other is a bit of a hike so we bought cold treats to keep our tired feet off of our minds and no one seemed to notice. :)

We had such a great day and we will definitely be back here sometime again. Thanks Sarah, Jeremy, and Lauren!

P.S. My lack of consistent blogging has made me feel overwhelmed. I keep trying to post but I can't decide where to start. I ended up not posting anything because I couldn't make up my mind. So from here on out I will try to just move forward and I may do some back posts if I get the time.

We only have two more days of school left and we can't wait to start all the summer fun!

Crazy Hair Day

2009-05-01T05:34:00.001-07:00

I already put these up on Facebook, but I wanted to add them here for posterity sake. :P

The week before Spring Break the kids had spirit week at school to raise money for Race for the Cure. If you wanted to participate in any of the festivities the school asked that you bring $1 on that day. Sophie, Julian, and Lily chose to participate in hat day and in crazy hair day. They got really into the crazy hair ideas, coming up with all kinds of silly things and having me practice them a couple times throughout the week. This is what they ended up wearing when Thursday rolled around. We had to get up a half hour earlier than usual. The girls also had sparkles in their hair, but they didn't really show up in the pictures. They had a blast!

With friends after school. I was surprised they held up so well!

Friday Funny

2009-05-01T05:30:00.000-07:00

Easter Baking

2009-04-18T05:55:00.000-07:00

The week before Easter we made sugar cookies one day after school. I'm not a fan of messes (especially times 4), but I don't let it stop us from doing fun and memorable family things.

First everyone took a spot around the kitchen island and we passed the bowl. Everyone got to add an ingredient or two.

Keaton helped with clean up.

Then we waited for the dough to chill before we cut the cookies. Since it is not everyday you get to see a stormtrooper in an apron I thought I would share.

After the cookies baked, the real mess, I mean fun, started!

They came out very bright and cheery. Topped with plenty of frosting and sprinkles!

Eating the cookies inside is where I draw the line though. They enjoyed their first tastes on the front porch. :)

Sweet Brothers

2009-04-16T15:24:00.001-07:00

Over spring break the boys asked if Tate could sleep in Julian's room with him one night. We were happy to let him. I put the kids to bed a little later than usual (all week, lovin' that part) and the boys were still chatting in bed about an hour later. I was about to tell them it was time to quiet down and get to sleep when I stopped outside the door to hear what a 5 year old and newly 8 year old could possibly be discussing for so long. Here is what I heard:

(I will preface this by saying that all 4 of the kids have been very inquisitive about God, Jesus, and heaven lately.)

Tate: Brat (Russian word for brother), when Mom and Pop get old are they going up?

Julian: Yep.

Tate: Brat, up there they have lots of castles and cheeseburgers!

Julian: No, Tate. Not cheeseburgers. Better than cheeseburgers!

Tate: Oh! It will be really big and nice, like our house.

Julian: No, Tate. It will be better than our house.

Tate: Oh? Like what?

Julian: Better than we can think, Tate.

How sweet is that?

Long Time, No Blog

2009-04-15T20:28:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone! Long time, no updates. I am pleased to say I have been so busy loving my family that I just haven't really had time to sit down and blog. I think of things throughout the day that I want to post about but by the time everyone is tucked away for the night, I am tuckered out! Life is good. God is good.

The thought of trying to catch up with my posts was a bit overwhelming and with so many other things I need to get done for the sake of my family I just didn't like adding 10 posts to the list. So I will see what I can do to keep up to date in the present while sharing some of the last couple months as well.

The kids are doing great. They haven't even been home with us for 9 months yet, and they are just doing so well.

I feel bad for not having taken the time to personally address some of the questions that I am asked, some of which I post and many that I don't. I don't post most of them because they come with email addresses and I don't know if people want them posted really anyway, so I am going to post what I can right here.

We did not use an agency to adopt, we adopted independently and worked with Kostya Farkovets through Ukraine Christian Adoption. I would call Kostya a full service facilitator. He answered any questions he could and I can't really imagine an agency could have done much more for us. He knew the US side of the paperwork nearly as well as the Ukraine side, and helped wherever he could. I would highly recommend him and his team and would use them again in an instant were we to decide to adopt from Ukraine again. Kostya certainly didn't sugar coat anything. I appreciated his honesty on the good days and when he was helping us navigate the bumps in the road. He worked hard for us, day and night, was a friend to us, a partner in prayer, a tour guide, a home away from home, and a brother. There is no easy way to adopt from Ukraine. It isn't a cake walk. I believe that you have to feel called there. We felt for many years that at least one of our children was in Ukraine. I believe that our faith served us well in our adoption journey. We tried to be as easygoing and open minded as we could be and that made the trip flow much smoother than it might have otherwise. We may even be one of the few families who really enjoyed our time in Ukraine, loved most all of the people we met there, tried to embrace the culture. There were more similarities between the way that we live and the way that they live than I thought there would be and I felt very at home there. Much of the trip even felt like an adventure and a vacation to us. We would love to visit again someday and I know that our kids would love to go back too.

Another thing that some people have asked is how the first weeks home went. I imagine it compares to having a new baby or two around the house. I was exhausted. We were adjusting to a new time clock, we had tons of new things and no place to put any of it, the laundry was suddenly tripled, I was ready to sleep when the kids were ready to be up and at 'em, and we wanted to introduce them to everyone while we were still getting to know them ourselves. Not to mention their reactions! I don't think that first week home was very fun, looking back on it. But it had to be done and we did our best.

I feel like 8 1/2 months in we are settled in pretty well and I feel like I get a step closer to being an organized mom every day. The things I am working on are patience, knowing when to discipline and when to let it go, and balancing my time so that I can get what needs to get done around here accomplished while still having plenty of quality time with the kids. I love holidays and I am so looking forward to the summer. We just all love to be together. We always make time to sit down in the dining room at dinner and we have family time in the evenings. Our bedtime routine is important for all of us and we try to have at least one formal family Bible study a week, though things come up throughout each day and we talk about them then and there.

Really the best advice I can give to new adoptive parents is to play it by ear. There is no one right way. We didn't keep their world small 100% of the time. We needed to get out for lots of reasons. We did try to have a routine though because the kids were very used to that. We took them shopping early on, but didn't go crazy. I didn't take them to the market with me, but I would take a couple with me when I went out to shop or run other errands. We held off on going to church for a while. Even when we started going (I believe it was month 3 or 4?) it was fairly overwhelming to the kids and the three older ones had been in school for a few months by then. We figured out pretty quickly that Tate couldn't handle Sunday school. Too similar to his detsky dom environment we think and he couldn't do it. He still sits in the adult service unless he is joining me when I teach Sunday school.

I am hoping this is the first of many posts this month, but time will tell. The kids are growing like weeds (though Lily and Tate are not really on the charts yet), they are all doing well academically, they continue to amaze us with how they have taken to life on the other side of the world, and they have a zest for life that you rarely see in anyone. We are nearly done with all the dental work that they needed and we are all very happy about that, though we do miss our life savings. ;) They have very few issues that you would expect from post institutionalized kids and nothing any bigger than any other kid we might have raised from birth. I always say that their adaptation is a credit to the fact that kids were meant to be raised in a loving family. It certainly isn't our perfect parenting. I am still learning the ropes. I remind them daily that everyone makes mistakes and we are learning to be a family together. I certainly don't want them to think that Kevin and I think we do everything right. I try to point out when I don't, in fact.

I didn't sit down to write this post and I am not taking the time right now to look over it. It just kind of happened. I am sure that doesn't flow too well, but it may just be helpful to another adoptive or preadoptive parent in one way or another so here it is. :)

And because what the relatives really want to see are pictures, here is one to tide you over until I have time to sort through the thousands (yep, I take that many) that I have taken in the last couple months.

Here they are after church on Easter.

Lily

2009-03-24T08:35:00.000-07:00

Over the weekend we went to the park a couple times to enjoy the nice spring weather. That's when I decided that Lily runs like Phoebe from 'Friends.' :D

Live it up, Lily Grace!

Bathtub Interview

2009-03-16T19:06:00.001-07:00

I was in Tate's room when I overheard this coming from the boys' tub:

Julian: "What's your name?"
Tate: "Tate"
Julian: "So you're from North Carolina and the detsky dom?"
Tate: "Yep."
Julian: "So dude, you speak English and Russian?"
Tate: "Yep."

Also, to the few people who have commented lately wanting me to email them regarding adoption questions, I plan to email you later this week. I try not to publish comments with email addresses in them.

Maya, I'm not publishing your last comment because I have tried to keep our last name off the blog, though I know it has slipped in a few times.

Disney World Video

2009-03-14T16:20:00.000-07:00

I was finally able to finish up the Disney World video. We had a wonderful little trip down there for the long weekend and we can't wait to go back for our big trip in June!

Crazy Week

2009-03-05T04:46:00.000-08:00

It has been one busy week around here. We had two birthdays on Monday, it ended up being a snow day, Lily ended up sledding right into a tree (which was beyond scary, but she ended up being fine), Sophie had a big family tree project due, my in laws are arriving tomorrow, we are throwing a tea party for Sophie and Lily's birthdays on Saturday and so far not one of the 30 girls we invited has said they could not come (we may have quite the full house), we are dedicating the kids at church on Sunday, and we are celebrating Julian's birthday on Sunday afternoon. Yikes! No wonder I haven't blogged, right?

Here is a list for myself of things I want to blog once things settle down a little bit:

Finish up my Disney World video and post that
Snow Day #2
Valentine's Day
Sophie's Birthday
Julian's Birthday
Lily's Birthday
Snow Day #3

I would love to post a few everyday things as well, but we will see. And I am still taking my daily pictures for the picture blog, I just haven't updated it in way too long.

Amy, will you leave me your email address? I hate not being able to comment on your blog. :(

And one picture for the post. Our friend Denise brought her new puppy over for the kids to see. She is a cute baby!

Would You Think I Was a Bad Mom?

2009-02-23T06:13:00.000-08:00

Would you think I was a bad mom if you knew that I put off Tate's bedtime routine for so long that I went in to find this?

What if you knew that the exact same thing happened the next night?

Does it make things better or worse that both times he was "reading" himself the Jesus Storytime Bible? Who can fall asleep during the Christmas story?

Should I not have taken photographs as evidence of my motherhood crime? Should I not have called Kevin in to see both times? Should I not have told the girls to get out of bed and look? They thought it was hilarious! Tate cracks up when he sees the pictures too, so maybe no long term damage was done. ;)

Sweetest Song I've Ever Heard

2009-02-23T06:00:00.000-08:00

I am downstairs working on uploading pictures I've taken lately and putting together a video of our Disney World trip. (Don't worry Kev, I'm on my third load of laundry, I've made the bed, deep cleaned in the girls' room, put away the folded laundry, and stripped some beds to wash the sheets later... and it's only 9! ;) ) Anyway, I'm sitting down here and Tate is playing upstairs on the landing singing sweetly to himself. This is the song I hear:

We so happy.
Papa and Mama and Tate
We so happy. Yay!
Tate and Vivi (Lily) and Sophie and Dulian (Julian).
Cause we at our dom and nyet at detsky dom.
We so happy. Yay! We so happy. Yay!
Papa 'zat work. Our kids are at school.
We so happy. Yay! (x35)

What a little sweetie, huh?

Along the same lines he told me the cutest thing last week and I wrote it down because I just love the way he says things. We were playing on my bedroom floor and I scooped him up and was talking to him.

I said: Tate, I'm so glad you live at our house now and not at detsky dom anymore.
Tate: Yeah. 'Specially cause I had no mama and I need a mama for me.

He is a charmer, that little guy.

Storm

2009-02-18T19:12:00.000-08:00

I was just working on uploading pictures and watching some HGTV when the light rain turned into a big thundershower. I unplugged the laptop and decided there was no point in trying to go to bed just yet. Yep, I just saw Julian make a quick dash from his bedroom to ours!

I am hoping to spend the next few days updating the blog. Today was Sophie's birthday so I have that and tons of other pictures to post. Stay tuned!

Disney World Weekend Part 1

2009-02-18T10:32:00.000-08:00

We surprised our kids (and ourselves, really) and planned a last minute trip for a long weekend in Orlando. We have a bigger trip planned in June for 13 of us. We weren't sure if that would be a bit overwhelming for the kids(or ourselves) so we decided to make our first trip as just a family and see how the kids did. True to form they did great. We stayed at Magic Kingdom from the opening ceremony to the closing song. They tackled any ride they were tall enough for and walked all over the park without complaining. They were even troopers in the car.

We're off!

First we dropped Keaton off at the dog hotel. He got a little nervous and peed on my leg right when I was dropping him off. I changed at the next gas station. I had dressed everyone in comfortable clothes for the day in the car and I ended up in jeans instead of my velour pants. :( Don't really know why I felt the need to add that into the blog, but I was looking at the pictures and the memory came back to me.

I filled their backpacks with some of their car friendly toys and coloring pads, sticker books, etc. while they were sleeping the night before.

They slept on and off a bit.

We had lunch in the car and then later stopped at a McDonald's in Georgia to let the kids run around on the playground and use the restroom. Then I broke out the clipboards filled with surprises to keep them occupied on the rest of the trip. Kept them busy all the way home too!

Snow Day!

2009-01-31T11:46:00.000-08:00

A couple weeks ago we got a fun winter surprise! No school for these kiddos, not with our inch or two of snow. Because snow is so rare here everything basically shuts down for just an inch or two.

I was the mean mom who made my kids walk around the snow and stand in front of the house until we got a decent picture before I let them run through it. I knew it wouldn't look so pretty once they had enjoyed it. I was right. The house looked so pretty with a blanket of snow on it. It would have made a nice Christmas card.

Of course Misha had to join us. Good thing Aunt Maya made him that scarf for Christmas!

Keaton had as much fun as his brothers and sisters. We actually had to take him in the house to defrost twice because he got huge buildups of ice on his paws and could hardly walk. He played like a puppy though.

This was the beginning of Sophie's snowman. Keaton ate him later that afternoon.

Julian in action. He was throwing a snowball.

Misha makes a snow angel.

Lily still manages to look adorable in the freezing cold.

She is so proud of her snow angel.

The birdhouse would have looked even more perfect if only a little red bird would have been perched on it.

We sled on our hill all year round. This was the first time any snow was involved though. All our neighbor kids and kids we had never even seen gathered in our backyard because we have the best hill. I loved having so many giggling kids in the backyard.

Before

After. The after actually makes me smile more than the before.

More snow fun:

Around noon we went in to warm up. Hot soup, "snow angel" sandwiches, and homemade chocolate chip cookies did the trick. The kids watched a movie while their clothes were in the dryer and they were back out to play with what was left of the snow in the afternoon.

Backup

2009-01-28T05:27:00.000-08:00

Oh boy, did I get behind on my blogging. On Wednesday we started talking about taking our first family trip for the weekend, meaning two days later! On Thursday we confirmed that we would leave the following day and drive down to Orlando for a long weekend. How's that for last minute? The kids had a four day weekend (well, they ended up having a snow day makeup on Friday) and we wanted to take advantage of their time off and have some together time.

We didn't tell the kids. We put them to bed early like any other school night on Thursday night, woke them up in the morning at the same time as usual, and sat them down to breakfast. We asked them if they wanted to go to school or if they would rather go to "Mickey Mouse's doma." You can guess what they replied and after we finished getting ready, we dropped Keaton at the "dog hotel," and we were on our way. After we arrived we had dinner at IHOP. Ha, ha. We told the kids how special it was to have breakfast for dinner.

The next day, which was coincidently the 6 month anniversary of the kids being home, we went to Magic Kingdom. It wasn't very crowded, the weather was perfect, and we stayed from opening to closing! Let me tell you what troopers our kids are! No complaining on our 9 hour trip down to Florida, slept crammed in a bed together, and walked all over Magic Kingdom. They rode anything they were tall enough to ride too. Tate, who cried when we put him on a swing 6 months ago, and had never really left his detsky dom, rode Splash Mountain and the Haunted Mansion with a twinkle in his eye. He is one changed kid.

I will try to post a six month update sometime soon. The kids are just constantly amazing us with their growth, progress, willingness to go with the flow, and zest for life. Lots of answered prayers in this family. We feel so blessed and thank God for all the gifts in our lives daily.

One Cold Weekend

2009-01-20T09:53:00.000-08:00

We have had some very cold weather lately. All last week was pretty cold and the kids spent very little time playing outside, like usual. We tried to come up with some fun activities to keep us happy and busy this weekend.

On Saturday I took the girls to see "Hotel for Dogs." I thought it was pretty silly, but cute. My dog-loving daughters thought it was the best movie ever.

Has anyone else noticed that there is a huge majority of children's movies that are about orphans? Kevin and I have noticed it lately. We don't really have the kids watch TV at all but we love watching movies and I think at least 10 of the movies we have watched have an orphan as part of the story line.

Sunday night they slept upstairs in the tent we gave Kevin for Christmas.

On Monday we brought a picnic lunch out to the lake to eat at Kevin's parent's property. We had lunch on the dock since they were working on the house and then we checked out the progress of the construction. Cold, but fun!

And today was a snow day! More pictures coming soon!

Project 365

2009-01-09T06:57:00.000-08:00

No, I didn't mean to get you that excited. We aren't adopting again or pulling the kids from school (but those are interesting suggestions). I decided to do something called Project 365 this year. You post a picture everyday. I take tons of pictures already. I just thought it would be a good way to keep me blogging and a fun way to watch our family grow and change.

I will keep a link in my sidebar.

Enjoy!

Something New!

2009-01-08T08:49:00.001-08:00

I have something new in the works. Stay tuned...

Happy 33rd Birthday, Pop!

2009-01-02T19:20:00.000-08:00

Today was Kevin's 33rd birthday. We celebrated with his family before they left this week but we didn't want the actual day to be overlooked either, so we celebrated as a family today.

First we bought a balloon bouquet,

then we went to Pop's work.

We surprised him while he was sitting in his office having some soup at his computer. He wasn't feeling well so it was an especially nice surprise. He said later it took him a second to figure out that the person standing in his doorway who looked like his wife actually was his wife. I have never showed up at his office unannounced. :D

The kids decorated this fantastic looking cake! Chocolate and chocolate, just he way Papa likes it.

Hope your 33rd year is as wonderful as your 32nd was!

Adopting in Donetsk?

2009-01-02T18:47:00.000-08:00

I just moderated a comment of someone who said they would love for me to email them because they had some questions. They are adopting in Donetsk. Please leave me another comment on this post. I posted your comment but then realized you didn't write the comment on one of my most recent posts and now I can't find your email address. Sorry!

:) Krista

New Year's Day

2009-01-02T07:18:00.001-08:00

Brr! We had a chilly New Year's Day in North Carolina. Cold for us, anyway. We spent our day lounging around in pajamas, eating a special breakfast and dinner, and snacking on appetizers in between. The guys watched their final Star Wars movie and the girls watched "Felicity: An American Girl Movie." I did a ton of laundry as well. The kids played with toys and cleaned up their bedrooms and bathrooms as well.

In the late afternoon we braved the cold and practiced riding their new bikes. Kevin's parents gave them the bikes for Christmas and they have been getting better at riding them with almost daily practice. All the bikes are a little bit big for the kids which makes learning a little more difficult. They love it though!

After evening baths we let them eat a little of their gingerbread houses and then we watched the Rose Parade. They really enjoyed their first Rose Parade and thought the flowers on the floats were so cool. Kevin's grandparents lived right off of the parade route (where Kevin's dad grew up) until just a couple years ago. We spent our fair share of nights sleeping outside and watching the parade up close. One year it was windy and miserable and we ended up watching the parade back home after spending a sleepless night outside! Anyway, the kids made us native Southern Californians proud and enjoyed it thoroughly!

All I Want For Christmas

2008-12-28T22:26:00.000-08:00

Not a Mariah Carey fan in general, but the song was so fitting. Why is YouTube always blurry? Low resolution, I guess. The movie on my computer is crisp and beautiful, but it appears blurry from YouTube. You get the idea though. :)

From Steven Curtis Chapman's "All I Really Want For Christmas"

All I really want for Christmas is someone to tuck me in
A shoulder to cry on if I lose, shoulders to ride on if I win
There's so much I could ask for, but there's just one thing I need
All I really want for Christmas is a family

All I want for Christmas is someone who'll be here
To sing me happy birthday for the next 100 years
And It's okay if they're not perfect or even if they're a little broken
That's alright, 'Cause so am I

`Cause all I really want for Christmas is someone to tuck me in
Tell me I'll never be alone, someone whose love will never end
Of all that I could ask for, well, there's just one thing I need
All I really want for Christmas is a family

Happy Birthday Jesus

2008-12-27T20:36:00.000-08:00

Luke 2:8-14

8 And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. 9 An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. 10 But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. 11 Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ[a] the Lord. 12 This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger."
13 Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying,
14 "Glory to God in the highest,
and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests."

The holiday season is wrapping up and I think my family enjoyed the time I spent away from the computer and close to them. I hope you all had as memorable and as blessed a Christmas as we did.

Blog Hiatus

2008-11-19T19:58:00.000-08:00

I guess I took a blog hiatus. It was unintentional, but there are so many things in life more important to me than blogging and I have been busy with them lately. :)

I have tons of great pictures and memories to post. There is just always something (more like 10 things) that need to be done.

Happy fall! We have been cold this week. We had beautiful fall weather last week and this week we were hit with winter. It was in the 20's this morning and I saw icicles hanging off of some trees on the way to Target. This is not typical at all here, much less in the middle of November. We are cold!

The kids are doing great. Their English is amazing. They haven't been here four months yet and they understand pretty much everything. They have tons of friends, they enjoy church and our church small group family, they are getting along pretty well with their academics, they are great eaters and have each changed so much physically because of it. We are so proud of them! The are polite, friendly, loving, and fun kids who kids and adults alike enjoy spending time with. They are so funny and keep our house so full of love and laughter. They are so thankful for the little things in life. I actually had a hard time explaining the modern day version of the Thanksgiving celebration to them because we talk about the things we are thankful for all the time. You should hear the sweet prayers that come from their little mouths. They thank God for any and everything they can think of. We can't say to each other enough how blessed we are by them every day.

My Trick or Treaters

2008-11-01T09:29:00.000-07:00

Long time, no blog. I have been using all my spare time making costumes! Hopefully I will be able to share pumpkin carving and Grandfather Mountain pictures later this week. We have out of state guests coming in and out for the next couple weeks though, so we will see.

Onto Halloween.

I thought he wouldn't make it a block in this costume, but he was a trooper! He kept up with everyone. He loves his robot costume. When I was making it he kept coming in the garage as I added each element and saying, "Oh! Sanka you, mama!"

What? Haven't you ever seen a pirate in Crocs before? That was this pirates footwear of choice. :)

My best friend's dad made Sophie this harp to complete her costume. She loves it so much. He sent it all the way from California for her. Thanks Phil!

And her wings!

We start trick or treating at dusk here since it doesn't get dark until about 7 before daylight savings. Our cul-du-sac all sits up at the corner together, so this is where the kids started their adventure.

The kids were cold and ready to head home by 8. We warmed up by the fire and then decided we would head to the airport with Kevin's dad and brother to surprise Babushka (Kevin's mom). She was flying in just after 9 and didn't think she would be seeing us until the next day. She was so surprised and the kids made many weary travelers' day. They were like little celebrities and I couldn't believe how many people wanted to take their pictures. It was fun to put a smile on so many faces. The kids ended up talking to a young female pilot who they were convinced was dressed as a "policia." She thought that was great!

The pirate, the ladybug, and the robot all slept on the way to the airport.

This just made me laugh so I took a picture. It is not every day you see a man walking with a pirate on one arm and a robot on the other through an airport parking garage.

Greeting Babushka as she steeped off the escalator:

New Title Picture

2008-10-24T08:03:00.000-07:00

This was taken a couple weeks ago when we drove up to Grandfather Mountain. What a change from our picture a year ago!

2007

2008

We are looking a little washed out, but this is about as good as it gets when you ask a stranger to take a picture of a family of 6 and their dog. :)

Life is Happening

2008-10-20T05:25:00.001-07:00

I wanted to post a quick note to say that we are doing great, but are incredibly busy. I have so many calls to make, notes to write, emails to send, and projects going on around here that I haven't taken the time to blog in a while. I will try to update soon.

Last week my sweet Sophia went to the dentist to get her bottom row of teeth fixed. She had two white fillings put in her decaying permanent molars, two crowns put on two molars that she will have for a few more years, and two rotted baby teeth pulled. Poor thing! She still has to go back two more times to get the top done. Thankfully she won't have to get any more teeth "wiggled out." That might have been more traumatic for me than it was for her. I pretty much passed out. Imagine my horror as I was trying to comfort the recovering Sophia who just finished getting her teeth pulled and the hygienist had to take care of me instead of her. I won't go into detail but it ended with Kevin coming from work to get us. :( I do have to go back with Lily to get a tooth wiggled out and she is not as tough as Sophie is. God help us. The boys both have cavities to fill, but thankfully that is all. We have another appointment for shots this week. Our poor children probably think all we do here in America is poke and pull at them! Bless their hearts.

On a happy note their English is coming along beautifully! One of these days I will try to get my act together and post some video of them talking. Until then, I am off to do laundry, clean the kitchen, mop the floors, and all that good stuff!