WHY?

Sarah and Anna love to be read to- that makes their Momma and Daddy very happy! When Sarah first came home from China books were very intimidating to her. She wanted nothing to do with them, she wouldn't even open them. So tonight we had a mini read a thon. Which translates to hubby wasn't feeling well, it was chilly outside, mom thought jammies were in order but girls said it is still light outside, so lets cuddle and read! I was reading pretty simple books and then started wondering how much of this is she getting, hmmm. I started asking a few questions as I was reading and I got my answer- not much. I think, I too often take for granted that she understand things when she really does not. She asks a ton of questions but it is hard to give an explanation that she can comprehend.

I had heard over and over that the children that are adopted catch on really fast. Umm, yeah, kind of- I guess to others it looks that way but when you live with your child each day you can really see the holes in the learning curve. Don't get me wrong they do/ she is doing awesome but she has a long way to go to really grasp the english language and the academics.

Often when I ask the kids to do something or don't do something I give the reason right away. "Like please leave your shoes on the rug so we don't track dirt into the house." At that point I usually get a "why". I just said why honey and then I repeat it again. Sometimes I get another "why". Argh! Of course then Anna has to chime in with a "why". That word should have been left out of the english language!

Okay, now on to my other princesses- Missy and Mia, the dogs! What is with these dogs and all their poop? I cleaned it all up on Saturday, looked out the window today and you'd think they invited all their friends over for a poop party. Another full gallon bag collected. How many times a day are dogs supposed to poop? Any dog lovers out there?

Trigger Finger?

Sometimes I can be a real worry wart. I like to get everything checked out "just in case". I think the doctors may be getting sick of me and my children. Actually, not really in fact we are there so much we know them quite well and they think the girls are as adorable as I do!!

Little Anna was helping me in the laundry room in Florida. We opened the dryer together but the clothes were not ready so with my knee I shut the dryer door. Well an itty, bitty, teeny, tiny thumb was still holding onto that dryer door and got shut in it. Oh my, my heart sunk, my little girl whaled and I quickly got it unstuck. I figured her nail might turn colors and eventually fall off but the injury turned out to be above the nail near the joint. We put a bandaid and medicine on it. She would not part with her bandaid for over a week. I noticed she wasn't moving it correctly or bending it so off we went to the Doctor ;-)  x-rays were taken , it was not broken- whew. A week late- still not bending it and it felt very stiff so we were referred to the orthopedic.

They diagnosed it as a trigger finger? It may have been like that from birth or could have been like that from the accident. We you force the thumb straight it pops (like a trigger on a gun) and then she bends it right away and it gets stuck in a bent position again. We are supposed to exercise it in hopes that it will heal itself. If it doesn't she may have to have a surgeon fix it, which we would do when she has another of her many cleft repair surgeries.

Of course I also had to have him check out her legs and hips. I know I'm a little odd! Her hips and legs are FINE- ;-) Yes she wears a diaper so at times looks bull legged ;-) and she does waddle occasionally but nothing that potty training wouldn't cure! Did you hear that honey POTTY TRAINING!!  You'd think I was saying YTOPT NRAIGNTI- she  just doesn't understand. ;-)

Gotta go outside- it's 82 and sunny! 

Pic coming soon!

Fun on the Road!

We had a wonderful time this weekend taking the girls on a road trip to Johnny's soccer game and visiting a bloggy friend! We were kind of testing them to see how it would go. Sarah has a history of getting car sick and Anna has a history of letting us know when she has had enough of her car seat. We didn't know how it would go and if we would have one screaming while the other was throwing up. We are so happy to share with you that they are great travelers!!. The only time Anna fussed was right before she fell asleep. Sarah did have to take a dramamine but she also did great!! 

There were so many concepts about a road trip that Sarah didn't understand. Often times it is very hard to explain so it was nice to actually let her experience it!  The soccer team did great- won 2 games on Saturday 7-0 and 4-0. On Sunday the fields were just too wet due to the rain so they cancelled the rest of the tournament- too bad they were on their way to a championship BUT yippee we got to go home early. (BTW, I love home)

On Saturday evening we met Lucy Joy's family! We had a wonderful time and the girls hit it off- and I'm not just talking about Sarah, Anna and Lucy- Lori and Jean hit it off, too!! 

When we got back we let the girls rum in the hallway to let off a little energy. The Hampton Inn was a hopin place that night hosting a 70 yr old birthday party!! I thought it was a bit loud but when someone's celebrating 70 yrs- I say go for it!! Have fun!! And they did!!

The girls let off a little more energy in the hotel with some old fashion jumping on the bed! Which of course we do not do at home ;-) but sometimes rules are made to be broken... like in hotels!! They were adequately tired on Saturday night and quickly fell asleep together in the same bed- which we thought was so ... so cute! When Sarah woke up in the morning she confirmed the fact that Anna in the middle of the night turns sideways and kicks, kicks, KICKS the other person in the bed. Hubby and I already new that but nothing like learning from experience!! Sorry Sarah!

A little family get away is extremely bonding! We all had fun!!

Anna's Birthday Party!

Helping big brother Matt put together the wagon!

Oh my, that looks very scary!

This is more like it!

Auntie Barbie and Auntie Tracy with Sarah!

Oops- didn't mean to post a second pick! How do I take one off? Anyone?

Yippee presents for me!!

Teaching Auntie Barbie how they count in China with their fingers!

Auntie Tracy recorded Uncle Bill snoring, Anna enjoyed listening to it! She said "very noisy"!

We were on spring break during Anna's birthday- so we postponed her party until we were home with the rest of the family. She was very excited that the celebration was for her! She got a fun birthday balloon bouquet. When you hit the big balloon it sings Happy Birthday to you from all the magical D*SNEY PRINCESSES- what more could a girl want!!

Anna's 2 Aunts joined us for the celebration- Barbie and Tracy! The girls had a wonderful time with them! We did our usual, family dinner, presents and cake and ice cream! Anna got a wagon and the teeniest, tiniest bike with training wheel- that she probably won't ride until she's 4- so why did we get it this year...I don't know?

Happy Birthday to our precious little Anna!

Thank you Jesus for this sweet girl!!

News Flash! Sarah and Anna will be meeting Lucy!

Yes, the headlines you just read are true. Our two girls will be meeting the infamous and adorable Lucy Joy!  We are all very excited! The girls have been checking out her Momma's blog so they can recognize momma and daughter. We looked on a map and showed them where we would be going.

Of course, Anna really doesn't get it- what she really cares about is that she will be going with us- we will not be leaving her. Second up on the Anna agenda would be- don't forget my blankie and 3rd is bring the movies!!

Sarah on the other hand is concerned about 7 hours in the car because she gets car sick- bummer- let's hope it doesn't happen. She is also very excited to have a pillow in the car- another new experience for her. She did tell us the other day she likes Florida and America(which is MN)- I wonder what she'll think about the country of Kansas! Okay, okay, I have a little work to do in the geography department.

Meeting bloggy friends would be reason enough to travel 7 hours but we are actually traveling to that neck of the woods for Johnny's soccer tournament.  I think it is cool for bloggy friends to meet and we are all thrilled to have this opportunity! Yippee Jesus!!

Big News!!

Someone is sleeping in their own bed in her own room!! And it is Sarah!! This is huge!! On thursday she wanted to sleep in her room, I was surprised but we went with it! On Friday and Saturday Katie and her friend were in the room, too. Sarah loved that! Now today she is in her room still, we are thrilled and a bit surprised! I was thinking it would happen in a month or two BUT this works for me! I am so glad she is comfortable enough with her home, her family and her bedroom to be able to do this! It is a big step!! (I do hope it continues!)

Sarah knows that she gets her ears pierced after one week in her room and with the intention of staying there. You have to cover all angles with this little girl or she will get her ears pierced and move back into our room! Next week we may have pics of pierced ears!!

What I love most is that she was comfortable to come to our room at 7:00 am and hang with us until we got up! I am so happy to see her comfort level increasing with the family and home!

Thank you Jesus! 

Adoption Completed!! Something to be very Thankful for!!

Because Jim did not travel to China this time we had a few more things to do to complete Sarah's adoption. The extra paperwork has been pretty painless, it really wasn't a big deal. We are so very happy though that it is all done and our darling daughter is home with her forever family!! She is incredible and a precious gift from God!

I used to watch adoption stories on the family channel and often times the families would bring there whole family to the courthouse to complete the adoption and celebrate their new family member! Well, we did a mini version of that! Sarah, Dad and Mom went to the courthouse to complete the adoption. The judge was very official and wonderful! Everything went smoothly and now Sarah is ours- yippee Jesus!! 

Since there are quite a few in the family and we have a 3 yr old party on Saturday and Easter on Sunday we did down play it a little bit. The 3 of us went out for doughnuts- they were great! After that we went on about our day. Dear Hubby takes lots of time off to make these events special and official, so he needed to get back to work. Sarah and I did school, picked up Johnny and Anna at Montessori. Anna, of course informed us that she did cry, BUT no as long as usual- good for you honey!!

At first we thought this event was basically going through the motions but it actually meant much more to us, it was very special! I got a little teary at one point and Sarah was concerned- "are you okay?", she asked.  "Yes honey, these are happy tears!"

What a great thing to be thankful for on Thankful Thursday- a precious little 9 yr old girl!!

Jump Rope!

When we were at the park on spring break Anna was trying out Sarah's jump rope. She was so thrilled to be able to use it and it was adorable watching her! These kids make me laugh!! It's great medicine!!

But, it's still light out?

It is so nice to be home!! We took the early flight this morning. Jim and I were up at 4:00 Florida time (3:00 Central time) and the kids were up at 4:45 (3:45). We boarded the plane by 6:45 and were in the air at 7:15 (6:15). In case you didn't know- I am not a morning person. It was all a blur to me.

The kids did fine. They slept in the car on the way to the airport but wanted nothing to do with sleeping on the plane. It was good to get home and see our doggies! The girls were comforted by the familiar surroundings of home. As early evening came,  the foggy feeling crept back into our lives. The girls were getting crabby and after we realized how little sleep they got we went upstairs to get their jammies on, brush teeth and to bed! Sarah was thoroughly confused, she kept repeating "but, it's still light out"! We tried to explain how much sleep she didn't get last night and even though it is light out now, it was dark when she got up this morning but she couldn't quite get past the thought of "but, it's still light out"!

Anna, we could fool! We shut the shades and went through our nighttime routine- she happily greeted her crib! She was surrounded by her pink piggy, pink baby doll, pink bunny,  2 pink blankies and one green blankie- she was surrounded by her entourage and couldn't have been happier!

Meanwhile Sarah is still saying "but, it's still light out". So we compromised and tucked her in our bed with a little movie and told her when we come up to bed we would move her to her bed IF by chance she was asleep. 5 minutes later- sound asleep!

We will be back to our regular routine tomorrow! Hopefully everyone will have had enough sleep so they can learn a few things at homeschool!

Playground skills!

So the other day we went to the park. Big daddy and Johnny were playing basketball and having quite the good time. The girls and I went swinging and played on the equipment. It really is an awesome, fun park for kids- it has everything! The girls love the slide- yes they can do it without help. Next is the swings- ahem, ahem, after much effort to teach them how to pump and get higher on the swing, we have not made much progress. Sarah loves going higher than she did BUT she really wants mom to push her... and push her... and then tickle her and push her again! AND you better not give out an uneven amount of pushes to her little sister- it will not go unnoticed! Little sister Anna loves to be pushed, too and throw in a tickle here and there and she is doing great!

Now lets move on to the monkey bars. These are foreign- they have no idea what to do with them. They also do not have the muscle development to do them properly. It amazes me that they no not have the upper body strength to do the monkey bars. When we started on this journey I never thought of this - I would think that children that lived with children and played with children would have this skill. That is completely false and what is true, is they did not have opportunities in their previous life to build the strength and coordination to accomplish this playground skill. I do have to say in my attempt to show them how easy this was I found out it is not so easy and it hurts your hands. (Just 40 short years ago I could do it- no problem!)  I felt so darn bottom heavy- what a bummer- but don't tell them that! We are going back to the park tomorrow to work on this- this time I have already lined up Johnny as the example of how to do the monkey bars!