Girls!

"Mom, she said she doesn't want to play with me anymore and she doesn't like me."

"I don't like her anymore. I don't want to play with her. I'm never going to play with her again."

 A good night sleep, new day, first thing my little Pumpkin says is "Can I go call for Paris?"

Yes honey, first you need to eat breakfast, get dressed for the day, brush your teeth, brush your hair, make your bed and "ding dong, ding dong" answer the door!

It's Paris! "Can Sarah play?" 

"Yes, she'll be out in 15 minutes!"

Nothing short of PERFECT!

Our FCC group met at a park. It was the most perfect beautiful day! The temperature was about 70 degrees, sky was clear blue, not a cloud in sight! The children played on the playground. We had a picnic lunch. The trees lightly shaded us. We visited and laughed, a lot. It was fun for the kids and fun for the Moms! What a wonderful support group!

Wordless Wednesday!

Always Entertaining!!

First time on a boat!!

We forgot the life jacket that was her size. We will bring it next time! The poor girl could hardly move!

Having two little girls that don't speak perfect english can be so funny!! Hubby and I are often in the front seat of car looking at each other with inquisitive looks- "What are they saying?"

Yesterday we heard from our 9 yr old who has been home 6 months- "Mom, I want to go to Elmo's house!"

My response- "Huh?"

"Mom, I want to go to Elmo's house!"

"Umm, honey, Elmo is a puppet, he's not real. He doesn't have a house." ;-)

Ohhhhh, I see, not real, hmmmmm. Then why does Anna have a picture of her and Elmo at his house? "

"That picture was in a book that Katie had made for Anna for Christmas."

Ohhhhh, I see, okay.

Later in the day coming from the back seat again was the Elmo song about Minnesota- sung by none other than Miss Anna.

minne, minne, sota (breathe) minne minne sota (breathe) minne minne sota

Then we get the question/statement from Sarah- "Bird behind house?" 

"What honey?"

"Bird behind house?"

"Yes honey, I am sure there are many birds behind our house."

"NOOOOO, Bird behind house?"

Okay- hubby and I are looking at each other again

After some investigative work we concluded the statement was "The boat is near our house."

"Yes, the boat is near our house. It is only a short drive to the boat!"

Honestly- this is so great. It is so fun listening to these two kids! Always entertaining and never a dull moment!

Thank you Jesus for these incredible girls!

minne, minne, sota (breathe) minne minne sota (breathe) minne minne sota

Pierced Ears and First Soccer Game!

Sarah as the goalie!

Her fans!

Lovely earings on a lovely soccer player!

Just a little nervous!

Okay, she is ready to go!

Keeping busy at the store!

Can we quit taking pictures? I'm not gettin anything out of this, not even a lousy stuffed animal!

Big sister Katie is DONE with college! She is home for a few days and then off on another adventure. The little girls love having her home- they just can't get enough of her and her dog, Penny!

Sarah has earned pierced ears and we have patiently waited for big sissy to come home and join us for the big day- well the day has finally arrived! Sarah was very brave and only shed a few minor tears over the initial discomfort. She was back to her smiling self within a minute!

In the evening we went to Sarah's first soccer game! She loved having fans there- just like Johnny!

She scored a goal, had an assist and a save ;-)

The kids are just so cute running around the soccer field and it is so nice for us to be outside enjoying the beautiful weather!

When the game started the referee informed Sarah and Daddy, the coach- no earings were allowed on the field. They told her to take them off. Daddy coach explained that we couldn't, they were just done today. He thought we needed to leave them in for 24 hours- oops, it's more like 6-8 weeks! I should have remembered this but, oh well! Thank goodness they let it go and she still got to play! We will just tape them in the future!

Today was a big day for our little girl! She is such a joy! Thank you Jesus!

Sarah has decided to grow out her bangs- soon I will be telling you why!!

To the Zoo with Friends!!

We went to the Zoo with our FCC group! When we first got there I didn't think we'd be able to find our friends- their were so many school groups there, but thank goodness for cell phones! 

The girls loved it! They had just been there with brother Billy and girlfriend Kelly but we couldn't pass up a fun outing on such a nice day!!

Momma, will you change my diaper?

Why honey? Have you gone poo poo? Yes...

Can someone please tell me who is in control here? Because, I am not thinkin it's me...

Little Anna was so close to being potty trained and then I went to China- she is so makin me pay for it! The dear girl wakes up dry... excuse me did you hear what I said... DRY and still refuses to sit on the potty and do her business. So I put her back in her nighttime diaper and let her proceed and change her a half hour later. Okay, I know I am supposed to sit with her forever on the potty and someday something really good will happen... like when she is 14. Okay JK...

This summer my little petunia will not be in Montessori, she will be home full time with me and I am embarrassed to say I was hoping we would be done with this before the summer so I looked like I knew what I was doing ;-) This is not the case. There are many things I can do well but I am not so sure about this- my 3 younger bio boys were trained at 3 yrs old and it was easy! They basically said-

"Mom, I want big boy underwear" 

"No, problem honey, here is is!"

From what I can remember, that was it!

Anna has a royal potty! She has lovely big girl underwear! She has a potty seat for the big girl toilet. She knows that she will get candy when she goes potty. What else do I need to do? Maybe the timing is off?? Maybe I should put it all away and then SURPRISE here it is?

Any thoughts for this overly veteran Mom?? I know it's kind of pathetic!

On another note, Anna has a backpack. A Dora backpack to be exact! She keeps her homework and her blankie in there and yes, it is so cute I can hardly stand it!

You From China?

If you have dark hair and dark eyes you will be asked that question by our dear daughter, Sarah. At Johnny's soccer games 2x in a row she has asked hispanic children if they are rom China. I think she is just figuring out the world around her! She isn't quite sure of the more common characteristics of an east asian person- so every Hispanic, Indian, and some African Americans- while I'm at it I may as well include the Italians and the Serbians and the list goes on! People are usually quite surprised by that question- the say "Huh?" Today the girls responded "No, we are from Minnesota and Mexico"!

Sarah's questions are getting more frequent now- they are also getting harder for me. There seems to be a huge grey area where the answer is not completely clear. Such as "Do policeman work outside?" Yes, well usually, well sometimes, but not all policeman. Hmmmm, did you learn anything from that answer? I didn't either! A lengthy explanation would only lose her attention. If history repeat itself like it tends too with our sweety, she'll be asking that again. Maybe next time I will have a better answer?

The other day she was playing with her neighborhood friend. I heard her say frequently how big her feet were and how big she was and well... Sarah little, see, Sarah feet little, Sarah leg small - well you get the picture. I am sure these comments are not in the book "How to Win Friends and Influence People". When her friend went down to play in the playroom I suggested to her that maybe she not talk about size. Everybody is different and different is okay. I mentioned that often people don't really want to be told how big they are. (like momma's underwear is big, Sarah is small- I'm gonna have to toss the hipsters and switch to the thongs). She was bewildered at that and but then went off to play. Sometimes it is hard for her when I say things like that. I feel like  am looking out for her but she may take it as a criticism. 

With older child adoption you tend to talk about the same thing over and over again with your child- mostly because they know how to communicate that issue with you and they don't know how to talk about other things. You have to be creative in changing up the conversation. (I'm still working on that!) In the beginning we were so thrilled to be able to communicate that we didn't care, we just keep discussing whatever it was. Now we are desperate to bring some new thoughts into the conversations.

Sarah is back at swimming- wow, she is getting really good and she loves it! It is so wonderful to see her excel at something!! Just an FYI- swimming is a wonderful bonding experience with adopted kids! Lots of touching, trust building, some relaxing and lots of fun!

Sarah is growing her hair long but we are in a dilemma about the bangs? Anyone out there have a preference and why? Bangs or no bangs? Please let me know what you think? Sarah likes it both ways, so she wants to know what you think! I am a no fuss person- bangs work but I will probably do the trimming. She has a lot of hair so we may need to cut more bangs or pull some back (I can do that). Any thoughts?

One last word from me- I am so grateful to God for letting me be the Momma to these incredible girls!! 

Thank you Jesus!

Homework = Fun

The big thing to do around here now is homework at the kitchen counter! The girls are all excited about homework - of course I know this won't last long but I am enjoying it. Is is so cute hearing Anna say "I want to do my homework" or "don't touch that, it's my homework". Of course she really doesn't have homework but it is so darn cute and it keeps her busy doing good things, writing, coloring, sitting nicely ;-)

Since Anna has started this craze now Sarah wants homework at the kitchen counter so by golly I can make that happen- no problem dear! I wonder if this will catch on to Johnny??

Sarah is beginning to be a little (okay very little) more independent on a few school things. I am slowly trying to move in that direction. She can do her handwriting on her own, practice the ABC's and do some math problems. Most of the time I am right next to her but I am enjoying a few moments to BLOG!! Like right now or throw in a load of laundry!

Sarah loves to tease Johnny and then tell on him- can you think of anything more fun that that! She will call him a she- and she knows exactly what she is doing. He has a few rules with her when his friends are around like no singing when they are in the car, she can only hang out in the basement if she plays in the playroom and doesn't try to get the boys attention or stare at them- actually I think it is good- I want to respect him and his space and have her learn appropriate social behavior. It is sometimes good that it is all not coming from me!

Jailbirds in Jammies!

This daylight saving time has put a crimp on bedtime around here. At 8:00 we head upstairs to get ready for bed and it's still light out. Anna doesn't get it but Sarah is wondering why so early? Thank goodness, with some reading time, when Sarah's head finally hits the pillow it is just about dark. What are we going to do in June?

Sarah and I went to the Paper Bag Princess Play at Stages Theatre- it was excellent!! We read the story over and over in hopes that the play may be more enjoyable for her. She loved it, too! Sarah is still more on the level of easy readers, short stories and board books. She cannot follow longer stories and often doesn't get the jokes- unless we say that's a joke, isn't this book funny! She is beginning to read but not necessarily comprehending what she is reading. Homeschooling her is so much fun because the progress is so obvious!!

Tonight we took out the guardrail on her bed- she is not happy with us. We will see how the night goes- I hope she doesn't fall out of bed ! It is so much easier to make the bed without the guardrail. Sarah is doing many things for herself now. She brushes her teeth, gets dressed (with a little help- I am mostly there for company), puts her clean clothes away, dirty clothes in the clothes basket, dirty dishes in the sink and she makes her bed better than I do! Honestly, I should end the birth children to China for awhile so they can learn a thing or two! She is also playing regularly with the neighbor girl that is her age. It is so fun to see them going down the driveway on their scooters! Our neighbor girl was actually adopted from Russia as a baby.

Church was successful again- which thrills me!! We are settling into a nice Saturday evening routine of 5:00 church and family dinner out! Sarah loves it when we drive and eat- food is much better as opposed to being home and eat. I wish I was a better cook and I wish I even remotely liked cooking. It is such an inconvenience to me - it takes too much time and it is a thankless job- wow, what a bad attitude I have! This time big brother Billy joined us!! Mark will be home next weekend, yippee Jesus!

Sun Bit Moon?

A couple days ago we got some books in the mail from amaz*n. They were from the "Let's Read and Find Out" series and one of them has to do with the different shapes of the moon. So the other day Sarah asked me if the "sun bit the moon"? I had to think for a second- and ask myself if I heard it right and then proceeded to explain simply about the sun and the moon. It was pretty cute- I am glad she is starting to come up with more questions on science related topics.

This morning Sarah and Anna were sitting up having breakfast and Anna was a bit cranky. Sarah said to Anna... Anna, let me tell you something... in America you be happy in the morning... you get your hair combed... it's okay... you get long hair... be happy! Hmmm, I wonder where she heard this? Look in the mirror and I bet I can figure it out! I can't believe how often I hear myself  BUT in a 9 or 3 year old version! Sometimes I like what I hear and other times- ouch, it helps me to make a few changes in my delivery, my sighs or what my face may be saying compared to my words.

Sarah is quite proud of her new tooth!! It is a lovely silver crown on her bottom right 6 yr old molar. She will probably be getting another one on the other side. She has shown everyone we talk to for the last 2 days. It seems to be a common thing among with the children from Ch*na. They didn't use tooth brushes very often- at least my little girls didn't! I am just thankful they saved the tooth! When she is older she can have a pretty white crown!

We had play group at our house- it is so much fun getting together and such a great support! The kids are adorable running around and playing! They all sat down to watch Beauty and the Beast- of course that lasted all of one minute! Then they were off again having fun! What a blessing these sweet kids are to all of us!!