Christmas Pics!

Not a whole lot happening over here, but I finally got around to shrinking some pics so I can post them. Here ya go!

Princess Liana
Adam with Great grandpa's dog Max
Aleksa Swimming
Our Dolls!

Miss Bossy-pants and Mr. Softy-heart

We will be finishing up the Wizard of Oz tomorrow. The kids have been loving it. We checked out "Holes" today - someone recommended it here, can't remember who though. It looks good (Newberry award), and I'm looking forward to starting it up next week. We also checked out the dvd of the movie for the Wizard of Oz. I think we'll be the first family in America whose children read the book before seeing the movie. They're going to be disappointed not to see the part where the Scarecrow gets stranded on a stick in the river. We've taken this week and half of last week off as a Christmas break from school, but the books have been a constant. The chapter books go over Aleksa's head, but she loves storybooks, and will sit with a book and pretend she's reading the story aloud to her dollies. Usually it is a made-up one, but if she's read it a few times, she'll try to re-tell it. Very often, if one of her siblings is reading a book, she'll repeat whatever they have just "read" in her own story. It drives the other two CRAZY (especially Liana).

Speaking of Liana, I'm just not sure how to handle that girl! She's a sweetheart, of course, but boy does she like to be in charge. She's a mother hen to the Nth degree and will boss around anyone standing still long enough to let her. I'm not sure how to direct that energy in the right direction. Where's the line between letting her personality be what it is, to making her change to be less controlling? And how do you go about changing it? (This really surprises people just meeting her because she comes off as the shyest and most reserved. I'm sure people wonder if I know which of my kids is which!) I'm kind of stuck when it comes to her. Really not sure how to mother a mother. !. For example, when we were up north, the kids and their new cousins (that they had just met that day), were playing on a small trampouline in the basement. Liana was jumping on it, and a little boy climbed on too. She crossed her arms and very authoritatively said, "Who said you can jump here? Did your papa say?" I pulled her aside and had a chat with her about that boy not needing another mama, and about how she needs to be kind, and sharing things she's playing with, yadda, yadda, yadda. Hard, hard habit to break. Liana as a teenager may very well turn me gray unless we can nip some of these things in the bud or redirect them somehow.

Adam, on the other hand, who STARTED his life with us turning me gray, is rapidly settling in, chilling out, and my hair is starting to turn my beautiful shade of dishwater again. Just tonight he had to kiss and hug his sisters good-night, and he told them each that he loved them, and then as John and I tucked him in, he asked me if I would stay a little longer to chat. He has a soft spot for Mama (what a good boy!!! *grin*) He's usually the first to do what we ask, and he will do a great job to boot. Can't believe this is the same Adam we stepped off the plane with. He still has his hyper streaks, but they are fewer and farther apart, and not nearly as uncontrollable. Pretty much, he's a great kid. Pretty much, they all are!

John's Birthday

Today is John's birthday, so the kids had a great time making it memorable. We served Papa breakfast in bed this morning. Of course, that also meant that we all got to eat OUR breakfast in bed too. I made sure that the Malt-o-Meal was extra thick this morning so there wouldn't be too much of a mess.

Then, I piled the kids in the car and headed off to Walmart to buy Papa his birthday present. He is pretty boring to buy for. He wanted earphones. *Jumps up and down with excitement* *not.* Well, he liked them, so I guess that's what's important. *shrugs* What he really liked was the kids' rendition of "Happy Birthday." He was all smiles as the kids belted out "Happy Birsday Papa, Happy Birsday, Papa, Happy Birsday, Papa..." It was cute, and they were so excited to watch him open his present.

John took the kids sledding again this afternoon. I wish I would have gone with this time, because Aleksa actually gathered the courage to slide down the hill BY HERSELF today, lots and lots of times! This is huge for her. She's our scaredy-cat when it comes to this kind of thing. She has come sooooooo far in the few months she's been home. It's really hard to really describe it. When she first came home, we had to carry her everywhere. She was scared of seatbelts, the car going over bumps, sharp turns, rough playing with Papa, heights, unfamiliar bathrooms (!!!), etc. She wouldn't go into the Playland area at McDonalds, swing by herself at the park, go down the slide by herself, etc. Now we've gotten her to go swimming, and to slide down a hill all alone! I'm so excited for her! She's just doing great.

The other day I needed to look for a word in the Russian dictionary to tell the kids what something was. This was the first time in a loooooooong time that I've needed to do so, and when I reached for it, Liana said, "This book says, 'Ni zhalvatsia.'" "Ni zhalvatsia" means, "don't complain," which is a phrase we had to look up quite often when they first came home. We could never remember it ourselves, and so had to look it up all the time. It cracked me up that that was the association she had with the dictionary, AND that she remembered how to say it at all. She's lost so much of her Ukrainian/Russian. Yesterday I asked her how to say "ear," and she said, "I don't know, I already forgot it. I speak English now." What amazed me was that she said it in perfect English.

Speaking of, I was just telling someone today that they are still confusing me/I "Me want some..." They also can't use the future tense in English yet. They still use "budu/budesh/budim/budit." So, they'll say something like, "Me budu go to the store." "I'm going to go to the store." Or, "Liana budit play games" for "Liana is going to play games." Otherwise, they really are coming along. Adam still struggles harder though, and it seems like if he isn't 100% sure of what a word means, he won't repeat it or remember it. We really try to make sure he knows what new words mean. The chapter books we've been reading have helped his vocab a ton. Right now we're in the middle of "The Wizard of Oz." They are on the edge of their seat. Today Dorothy threw the water on the Witch of the West, and they are dying to know what happens next. The tin man and the scarecrow are still lost. (The book is a little different than the movie...)

Anyway, I'm tired. Time for bed.

Christmas Weekend

We had a nice weekend with John's grandparents and extended family this weekend. It was a little odd spending Christmas day at a motel swimming pool but the entire family no longer fits at Grandma's house and the aunts that live up north are remodeling their houses right now. The kids loved swimming around in the water. Aleksa took a long time to warm up to the idea, but by the end, she was loving it too. Looks like swimming lessons are on the horizon for this summer!

The kids did well with the crowd of strangers, and I was tickled pink when Aleksa could not be coaxed onto Great-grandpa's lap because she was "scared." It sounds silly to be giddy about that, but boy, has she come far with her response to strangers!!! She smiled at everyone and was the typical "Sunshine girl" that we know at home, (everyone commented on how much she likes to smile), :O) , but she was just very hesitant to go to people she didn't know. *does a cartwheel here*

Adam enjoyed playing with all his cousins, and got a little wound up a few times, but he quickly gained control of himself and well, I was really proud of him. He still has a tendency to think that all grown men are his playthings. Still working on that. (Adam loves to tickle and wrestle and climb, etc.)

Liana was very quiet and shy in the crowd of people, (fine with me!!!) She did great as usual.

Several people said they worried that they were worried the kids were overwhelmed, but I was actually happy that they looked that way. A few months ago, they would have been everyone's best pals going from person to person climbing on laps and acting like they knew everyone forever. I was really happy to see them act like a normal kid would, though Adam, of the three, showed the least reserve, and enjoyed the attention and the extra people to play with. Not sure I saw anything alarming though. Just a nine-year-old boy who likes to play.

The most alarm I got was when we went to sleep. The girls slept with me, which was wonderful, since they're both great cuddlers. They both ground their teeth *loudly* all night, however. I've never heard them do this before - just a few times here and there, and it was mostly when they first came home. I'm hoping this was just because of the stressful situation of being away from home with strangers all over, but I'm going to have to check and see, now that we're home, if this was a one-shot deal, or if this happens all the time without us knowing it.

Sunday morning the whole family went to church. John's grandparents' church has a shaking hands time between two of the hymns, and while John and I were doing so, we didn't notice Adam getting into this too. When the next song started and it was time to sit down, I gasped when I noticed that Adam was NOT in the pew next to us anymore. He was off shaking Auntie Mary's (and who knows who else's) hand several pews back, and thankfully, she sent him back up with us. I'm so glad I didn't have to get out of the second pew from the front and go looking for him.

Christmas!

Last night, Adam found an actual, real-live SPIDER in our kitchen! I was soooo excited! I made a big deal out of it, and we all put him on our Christmas tree and then I read the Ukrainian folk-tale of the spider. The kids absolutely loved it, and I couldn't believe the coincidence! (I had been planning on reading it to them anyway last night, but it sure made it all the more fun to do so with an actual spider in the house!) (The story is about a family too poor for Christmas decorations. The family's spider felt sorry for them so it worked all night to make webs all over the tree, and in the morning, the family had a gorgeous Christmas tree.)

This morning we opened presents, and the kids had a B-L-A-S-T!!!!!!!!! We started off the day by giving them their stocking... That was before John was to leave for work, so we thought it would be only right to let them have something to open before the "big" opening time when John came home from work at noon. Well, we decided to hide the stockings and have them find them. They thought that was fun, though they weren't real sure what they were looking for. They had boring stuff in their stocking - pencils, erasers, staplers, giant candy-canes, plus a few small toys. They thought they were in 7th Heaven, let me tell you! Big eye-opener for me. Never heard so many thank-yous, had so many hugs, etc. They were giddy with excitement over little stuff. (Though the girls did get fingernail polish and lip gloss which is Big Stuff over here...) ;O)

Anyway, John couldn't leave for work because the car was dead. Oh well.... (thank you God, that was nice!), So, we opened all the presents in the morning. We didn't have an extravagant budget this year, but thankfully the kids are excited over 99 cent army men, so it "felt" like a lot to them. *whew* (Wonder how many more years that will happen that way... This will probably be the last, huh?) (Oh well!)

Anyway, the girls loved their tiaras and play dress-up shoes, and promptly ran to their rooms to put on their princess dresses (the dress I saved from my sister's wedding plus that little white one for Aleksa.) They also had matching clip-on earrings. Liana opened hers and told us she wouldn't cry when we pounded the hole in her ears. Yikes!

At about noon, Adam opened the front door out of the blue. I was in the kitchen and I said, "Adam, what are you doing? Shut the door!" So, he looked at me funny, and then shut the door. He came into the kitchen and I said, "Why did you open the door, Adam, it's freezing out there?" He said, "Mama, tam big boy" ("Mama, there's a big boy out there.") Oops. So, I ran to the door and there was John's boss and his son. They dropped off a Christmas gift, and then offered to jumpstart our car. I thought a few seconds about being mortified about the enormous paper/boxes/garbage bags full of Christmas mess all over the house, but instead I decided it was a badge of honor, and that I was going to be proud of my mess this year. I've waited long and hard to finally have a disaster on Christmas morning from "the kids'" mess (that sure feels good to say!)

Then we went to my dad's house to give him his gifts and hang out a while. I had promised to remember something to give him later, so to remind myself, I put my wedding ring on my right hand. No problem, that would undoubtedly remind me. Except that after we ate, I noticed that my wedding ring is gone. What's funny about that is that when those Ukie shirts were gone, I was a wreck. I'm actually pretty nonchalant about the ring. It'll turn up, and if it doesn't, I know I'm married, and the kids know I'm married, and the rest of my friends and family knows I'm married. It wasn't like it was a huge rock or anything anyway. That's the beauty of being poor. If we had spent thousands on it, it might very well have "ruined" my Christmas. Whatever. I had the best day in a long time!

We had a turkey dinner, plus a birthday cake for Jesus, and then afterward, we all went sledding on the kids' new sleds! Great fun all around. Came home, had some hot chocolate, and then played and played and played.

The biggest shocker of the day was that Adam has loved to play with the play food, cupboard and play stove every bit as much as the girls have. We have caught him in the girls' room many, many times today playing alone with their cooking stuff.

Wonderful, wonderful day!

Oh, btw, the reason we opened presents today was because we're headed up north to John's grandparents' house bright and early in the morning.

Merry Christmas everyone! I hope you all have a wonderful day with your families and friends!

Ready for spring

It is freezing up here in Wisconsin. Lots of snow that fell in the last few days has also brought very low temps. So, whaddaya do but bundle everyone up and continue life as usual?

I took the kids to the Dollar Store today to buy themselves a toy with some Christmas money they've gotten in the mail recently. I also found some things for the household and for stocking stuffers. Got to the counter though, and realized that after writing out a bill or two last night, there were no more checks left in the book. So, I had to run home and then run back. With three kids, that's rough. Wasn't thrilled, but whaddaya do?

Anyway, we did it, and then afterwards, I remembered that we still needed a few exchange presents for an upcoming Christmas party. So, we swung over to Walmart. It's actually just across the parking lot, so it wasn't a big deal.

In Walmart, we marched up and down the aisles waiting for me to get inspired as to what would be a good exchange gift. One for a man, one for a woman. I'm really bad at that kind of a thing.

Anyway, everyone was really good, thankfully, but alas, as we were about ready to check-out, Liana announced that she had dropped her mitten *somewhere* in the store. Oy. So, off we went looking for a pink mitten. Found it! Way back in Sporting Goods. *whew*

So, we checked out, and went to leave. One of the bags we had set off an alarm and the Walmart Lady came running after us asking us to stop. Great. No prob, I give her the receipt, and she writes something down and then we leave. It is FREEZING outside. (Did I mention that?) Well, guess what? In my haste to park the car and get the kids into the store, I had forgotten alllll about trying to remember where we parked. I had absolutely no idea. So we wandered. Let me just say that wandering Walmart's parking lot the week of Christmas with three freezing kids is not fun stuff. I was freezing too. Our boogers all froze. Our ears froze. I began to panic.

Eventually I found the car and we were off. Came home, put 'Leksa to bed for her nap, and then tried to thaw out. Two hours later we had to leave again to go get John from work. The strangest thing happened. Our front door would NOT open to let us out. It was stuck as stuck could be; frozen shut. Never ever had that happen before, and frankly, I didn't know it could be done. Great. I pulled and pulled and pulled and pulled and pulled. Finally it did open, but with a great crackle. It was really freaky.

I'm ready for spring.

Christmas Program!

Grandma dropped off the girls' Christmas dresses last night so they could wear them Sunday morning. They are red satin, and absolutely beautiful. When I woke up the girls in the morning, I told them Grandma brought a surprise for them, and when I showed them their dresses, Liana hugged it and abruptly went into orbit with excitement. I've never seen such speedy bathers! They couldn't wait to put them on! (And I couldn't wait to see them!) They pretty much bounced all the rest of the morning.

The kids had their big Christmas program last night. All three kids said Adam's line together, though apparently only a few people understood them. Auntie Cara asked me afterward if they were speaking Ukrainian. *Sigh*

They were all dressed to the 9's in their Ukrainian clothes. Very handsome crew. Gotta love those Ukie embroiderers! Anyway, it was a stereotypical Christmas program, where the little ones stood in the front, and the older ones in the back. The girl next to Aleksa was holding a Chinese umbrella. Which is fine, except that the point of it kept getting in Aleksa's face. Had this happened the week after we were home, Aleksa would have blackened this girl's eye and been screaming her head off in frustration. Instead, she kept pushing it out of her way, and the girl holding the parasol was completely oblivious. At one point, Aleksa turned and scolded her pointing her finger, but still the girl had no clue. I had a hard time not giggling out loud. Mostly, Aleksa just dodged it, and looked annoyed, and somewhat ammused. Midway through the program, I had the sinking realization that I had forgotten to remember the camera. *waaaahhh*

The kids pretty much faked their way through the songs, but Adam liked doing the sign-language part in singing "Silent Night." The girls, for some reason, choked during the sign-language part, and just stood there. Aleksa had a grin on her face looking out into the audience, but Liana looked scared to death, and hardly looked up at all.

After the program, as I was grabbing my purse to leave, I happened to look inside to see MY CAMERA staring at me. I had apparently remembered to remember the camera earlier in the day, but then later forgot. Obviously my brain is mush these days.

Speaking of mush, I had to laugh at our supper last night. We were in a rush to get out the door to get to church, and I hauled out all the leftovers from the last two days... Leftover mashed potatoes, four pieces of last night's frozen pizza, and some goulash. Gourmet! (Actually, what was really funny, was that nobody complained, or even blinked. I had a hard time getting it down, but no one else did!)

After supper, it was time to start cracking the whip to get ready. They were each to march to the bathroom after supper and brush their teeth. Liana seemed to take her time, and when I investigated, I found her putting their pickle jar in the window. *sigh* "Liana, pickle jars don't belong in windows." "Ok, Mama, me forgot." Sometimes they really have me scratching my head...

Where's Shelly?

The kids' Christmas program was last night. It went well, but I was exhausted by the end of the night - hence no post. I don't really have time to post now either, except that people might think I dropped off the edge of the world if I don't post two days in a row. I'm still going to keep this short, however, because I want to really write up a good one about last night, and I just don't have time to do so right now. (Everyone is awake and ready for the day.)

Have a good day everyone, I'll post again tonight...

Four Months Home!

Has it been four months already? Or should I say, "Has it only been four months?" Haven't we always had our crew? What was life like BEFORE these kids? I can hardly remember anymore!

Last month at the 3 Months Home date I remember thinking, "boy was this month easier than last month." Well, this month has been the same. Much easier than last. The kids are much more at home or something. They are getting into the groove of us being their parents and vice verse. They know what to expect, and for the most part, so do we. We are all much more relaxed, and frankly, we're all just plain enjoying each other now. I've gone to sleep telling John, "Wow, we have great kids," more times this month than all the first three put together. I loved them the first three months, of course, but this month, we are all so much more in sync with each other, that we're just plain enjoying being a family. Hard to put my finger on it to fully express it. We've had some surprises, (water in the trashcan, for example), but nothing alarming or terribly stressful. In short, we have got to be the luckiest family in the wide, far world!

The Four Month Home date is supposed to be the date that new adopters look forward to as the time when their kids finally speak all English. Ours are doing great, but they ain't there yet. Undoubtedly it is because we are homeschooling and because we have NEVER insisted that they speak only English. Their Ukrainian has been lost soon enough, and we haven't wanted to stress out the kids even more than they already were. So, those first weeks home, we didn't mind speaking what Ukrainian we knew to them, and them to us. If we had been "English only" from day one, I'm sure they'd be further along, but I don't regret what we've done with them for a minute. I'd rather have their English prolonged a few weeks than to have added the stress onto the kids of being put into school right away, and not having anyone around them speak something familiar to them. Our goal is that they are feeling emotionally safe and happy, not stressed but speaking English. Don't regret a thing.

Adam started really using the pronoun "I" today. Major breakthrough with him, though it isn't yet consistant. John and I both about fell over. He said a few complex sentences in perfect English today, and we made a major deal out of each. He's still frustrated with his English, but it is coming, and he's made great strides.

Liana's English is really, really remarkable. She uses "me" where "I" should go a lot of the time, but she usually does put in the pronouns, and is using the word, "and," which was a really tough one for her to latch onto. Very seldom will she ever speak any Ukrainian at all, but her English grammar is pretty rough yet.

Aleksa's English is pretty good, but there are a few words that she just can't shake yet; mostly pronouns, but she forces herself to say, "and" and "when" instead of "ee" and "cagdah." She has the thickest accent of the three. I finally put my finger on why. She was the only one of the three that could roll her "r's" in her native language, so when she says her "r's" now, they are rrrrreally rrrrrolled. The other two sound like American kids who say their "r's" like "w's." (Well, I guess it's only Liana, not so much Adam.) I've laughed several times listening to Aleksa. She sounds like a stereotypical Norwegian lady. Her vowels are very exaggerated (the "o" and "u" especially), and she pass for a little Norske girl easy as pie. Her grammar is pretty rough around the edges too, but it is quickly falling together. She has her own words for things that I can't bring myself to correct her on: "Candy-cakes" for "candy-canes" (already mentioned elsewhere, I know), "prettiful" for "pretty/beautiful," (but it sounds like "PREE-ly-ful").

I already mentioned the other day that the kids are finally starting to reject their Ukrainian/Russian. It's weird, and I hate it, but I also knew it was inevitable.

Mind-of-their-own Toilets

Today at the library, Liana asked to go to the bathroom. She often asks for Mama to come into the stall with her if we are someplace away from home, so, in I went. Well, she got half-way "done" and all of a sudden, the toilet flushed by itself. My poor kid was so scared she got up and ran to the other side of the stall (we were in a handicap-access stall). She didn't cry, but she stood there, pants around her ankles, with a freaked out look on her face. I convinced her to sit down and finish up and when she sat down to proceed - you guessed it - the toilet flushed again! She decided that was enough and declared herself finished. Poor kid will probably have nightmares about that. As long as she doesn't start wanting to go outside in the bushes...

Great books

We finished reading "The Boxcar Children" today. That's been their favorite all-time book so far, and they've begged for extra chapters all week. It has been so fun that the older two are so excited about reading non-picture books, and that they have been following them so well.

A while back someone asked what my favorite books were for the kids. We got a ton of new books recently with our Sonlight curriculum, so I'll list a few if you are interested in getting some great books to start your kids' "library." These you won't be sorry you had: "A Treasury of Children's Literature" by Eisen; "20th Century Children's Book Treasury" by Schulman; "The Lion Storyteller Bedtime Book" by Hartman; "A Family Treasury of Little Golden Books" by Buell. These have to be some of the best books I've ever seen for kids. Other favorites from our curriculum package include "A Child's Book of Art" by Micklethwait; "The Complete Adventures of Peter Rabbit" by Potter, "The Real Mother Goose;" "People" by Peter Spier; "Things People Do" by Civardi and Cartwright; and "Then and Now" by Amery. The other day we read the Aesop story about the Crow and the Pitcher and we got to have a little science experiment after reading it. We had a blast. I love that even Aleksa can get in on a lot of the projects we've been doing, and she has been enjoying the stories right along with the other two. The Math-u-see has been really great for the kids too. We're all loving school lately!

Babysitter

John and I had an official babysitter come over tonight for the first time since the kids came home. I had a Christmas party and he had a meeting, so Uncle Jared came over. I left at 7, and John got home at 8:30, so it wasn't a big deal, but still, it was a monumental step.

Almost called off the whole thing when earlier in the day after explaining the evening plans, Liana asked if Uncle Jared was going to be their new Papa. Um, NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO. John sat them down and did some extra explaining after that one, and then they were just fine. John drew a pictoral timeline of their day, and showed them how short of a time Uncle Jared would be here. After that, they were all set for him to come and play.

Uncle seemed to handle it pretty well and never complained or let on that there had been any problem while we were gone. (Thankfully we didn't have any sugar flowing through everyones' veins on top of the excitement...)

Water in the trash

I thought I was going to be writing about the kids' first trip to Pizza Hut and driving around to see the Christmas lights in tonight's blog entry. Those were definitely memorable firsts; kids were all in great moods, were very good, etc.

But! (There's always a "but," isn't there?)

I put the bathroom waste-paper basket back in the bathroom last week after 4 months of being home and not wanting the kids to go back to their "old ways" of putting used tp in the trashcan instead of the toilet. Well, I had a feeling something would happen...

Tonight when we were tucking in the kids, Liana mentioned that we might want to take a looksie at the basket in the bathroom. Great. Well, there wasn't used tp in there, but there was water up to the top. Apparently Adam thought it would be fun to fill it with water. Even though there was trash in it too. What is up with that boy and water!!!??? So, I made him empty it (he had to fish out all the trash first, and trust me, I'm not the wonder-woman type of a mom who empties the trash every day...) Maybe John needs to start supervising his bathtimes. Not sure.

Christmas Guitar

We had our annual Christmas Cantata at church last night. The two older kids got to sing a song with the rest of their Patch the Pirate group. Liana had been telling us all week that she and Adam were going to play the guitar on Sunday, and all week I had been scratching my head wondering what on earth she was talking about. Well, this afternoon when we mentioned the cantata, she said, "See, Mama, guitar!" She was sorely disappointed that it wasn't "guitar" she heard, but "cantata."

Anyway, they basically mouthed the words to the song - it had lots of fast, complicated words, so they were lost, lost, lost. But they were still cute though, and I was still a proud Mama! ;O)

Aleksa got to sit with me, and boy was she GOOD. She snuggled right in and never said a word. UNTIL... In the play part of the cantata, the main character is named "Missy." "Missy" is what I call the girls when they are being a little naughty. Aleksa's eyes got big and she said, "Missy, Mama!?" And then she sat in awe wondering what naughty thing the girl in the play had done. It was cute and I had to chuckle. She's my little Sunshine Glurl alright!

Afterwards, the lady sitting next to me said, "So, how's it feel to have such a sweetheart to cuddle up with?" I'm not quite sure you can really communicate how that feels. To go from NO kids in your lap to such snugglers as we have is wow, indescribable. So glad the Empty Lap Syndrome days are long behind me. I hated sitting on my hands wondering when it would be my turn to hold my baby. Very, very happy Mama.

Sunshine Glurl

I meant to say this for yesterday or the day before (can't remember now), but the shirts were heavy on the brain instead.

I am always saying to the kids, "You know Mama loves you, right?" And of course they say they do. Aleksa had a new answer for me. She said, "Yup, ya Sunshine Glurl." (She can't quite say "girl" right). She's sure got that right! Had to share.

Ukrainian words flying away

Can't remember if I mentioned this from the other day, but it ties in well with tonight's happenings...

The other day I was playing legos with the kids. Liana found a brick I was looking for and I said, "Spaceba balshoy" to her. She said, "Stop it, Mama!" I asked her why. She said, "That's dyetski dom (orphanage) talking." And then she sort of glazed over and spaced out a minute or two. :O(

Tonight, I was trying to impress Adam with my new Ukrainian word du jour (thanks Lisa!) I told Adam that I knew what the flower crown thingie was called and he right away said it was a "Vinok." I asked him what they called the shirts, and he looked at me, and thought and thought, and thought, and he just couldn't pull it out of his head. He finally gave up and said, "No more Ukrainski words, Mama; all gone." I promptly burst into tears. I can't believe it hit me that hard. Adam truly is in No Man's Land right now with language. He can't express himself in either language, and he is constantly frustrated. He makes constant sound effects and pantamimes for what he wants to say, and will often just let Liana finish his sentences for him. (Liana is having to take over his line in the Christmas program... he just couldn't say it/remember it. Of course after we told him Liana would say it, he figured out *mostly* how to say it, but he undoubtedly has no idea what he's saying and it is mostly gibberish to him.)

Anyway, when I was trying to pull myself together, he said, "Mama, it's ok. Ukraine bad. Ya ni want Ukrainski talkin'." Well, of course I had to ask why, and then he responded, "Dyetski dom, Mama. Dyetski dom bad. No food, little clothes. Funny clothes. Girl clothes. Adam pink coat. Bad shoes. Dirty. Cold. Bad people. Bad people in Ukraine, Mama. Bad. Ya ni like it." I cried and cried.

Still crying...

Shirt pics

Three Ukies
Aleksa full-length

After I found the shirts this morning, I had a spontaneous photo-shoot in the livingroom. It sounded something like this: "Everyone get these on right now! We're taking pictures before something else happens to them!" So, here they are. Grandma Fisher has aprons for them too, but we don't have them yet, so here's the "pre-apron" look. Liana hates the flower crown thingie, so I might have to do some re-vamping of those before I can get her to wear them, but Aleksa doesn't mind, and I think she's cute as a button with it. We'll just have to see.

Anyway, other than that, it was a quiet day...

FOUND 'EM!

I FOUND THEM!!!!!!!!!!! For some reason they were in the bottom of the linen closet in our master bathroom tucked behind some towels. (Can you tell I've ripped up my whole house looking for these things?) WHAT ON EARTH WERE THEY DOING THERE?????

Life is lots less hairy around here now, and my children no longer have to wonder what that grey cloud over Mama's head is all about.

Thanks for listening to my wild-woman-in-a-panic ravings!

Shelly

Pity Party over Ukie Shirts

I'm really bummed out. Weeping and wailing going on here. I had taken the kids' Ukrainian shirts to the fabric store a few weeks ago (a month?), so I could match the fabric for their skirts to go with them, and also brought Adam's shirt because Connie hadn't seen it yet. Well, I brought it in a plastic shopping bag, and when I got home, I put it on the kitchen counter. Fast forward to today. Those shirts are NO WHERE TO BE FOUND. I don't remember what on earth happened to them after seeing them on the counter. I have a feeling they were thrown out. *bursts into tears again* I can't tell you how bad I feel about that.

Those were the *only* things I couldn't leave Ukraine without (besides our kids), and now they are gone without any pictures. I have a few with Adam in his, (and his is even on the Ukrainian Angels website; we're family #796), but nothing for the girls in theirs. Sad, sad, sad.

Christmas Shopping!

Last night was one of the most incredibly fun days I've had in a lonnnnng time. John stayed with the kids while I went out Christmas shopping!!!! I was in tears a few times thinking, "I can't believe I have a little boy AND TWO little girls to buy toys for!!!" I decided it was time to go home when every time I turned a corner with the shopping cart things would fall off. *Bliss* I've waited a long time to shop for children. Fun to get my chance!

Thanks to all who made suggestions for Adam. I got him some more Legos, (can you ever have enough of those?), a transformer, a hotwheels loopedy-loop-thingie, a toy pirate ship, a sled and lots of other things that I can't think of right now. (Also the basics like little green army men, some art supplies (including his own stapler!), etc. John and I still need to get him some kind of a toybox though. He likes to stuff all his toys on his bookshelves and in his lego-box under his bed. As nice as he likes to keep his room, we really need to get that boy somewhere official to put his stuff. Couldn't find a magic set anywhere. :O(

The girls got lots of girly things like their own little tiaras, dress-up shoes, (I haven't found any dress-up clothes that I was sure would fit Liana :O( ), lip gloss, a weaving loom, beads, art supplies, a step-stool for Aleksa, megablocks, a toy stove, pretend food, play dishes, a grocery cart, etc. Plus they'll get the wooden cupboard that I had when I was little, as well as a dollhouse I had.

In short, I CAN'T WAIT to watch them open presents!!!! How many more days 'til Christmas again????? :O)

Candy Cakes and Dr. Seuss

Yesterday was the first "good" snow of the season. The kids had a blast running around the yard making snowballs. While we were outside, a siren went off. Not sure why - it wasn't 5:00 and there wasn't a tornado in sight! Anyway, Aleksa started screaming and she was in my arms before we could count to three. So, she and I went inside and made some hot chocolate with candy canes as stir-sticks for everyone when they came in. (Aleksa calls them "candy cakes.") (I can't bring myself to correct her. It's just too cute.)

Last night, Aleksa poked her nose in our bedroom door, and said, "Mama, I come in?" I said, "Would you could you?" And then she said, "In a boat?" (We read a lot of Dr. Seuss around here, can you tell?)

Speaking of, a few weeks ago (I can't remember if I mentioned this or not, so sorry if this is an old story), a friend was over and she asked Aleksa where she got her Twinkle bear. Aleksa didn't know, so I said, "Aleksa, tell her Aunt Darla gave it to you." She said, "Aunt Annie's alligator, a-a-a." I thought that was pretty funny, but I'm sure glad she's getting a little phonics in her head before she really needs it! ;O)

I've been delinquent with this blog lately, but I've been working on my Christmas cards in the evenings, as well as our adoption announcements. It's high time we get those sent out, don't you think? ;O) I'm almost done, but I'll probably need another evening of addressing envelopes.

Uncle's House

Yesterday we made gingerbread houses with our homeschool group. Talk about a BLAST! Lotsa candy and frosting, lotsa stains down their shirts and sleeves, but also lotsa fun! I'll have to take some pictures.

We took the kids up to Uncle Bruce's house for the annual Christmas party for John's extended family today. It was a long day (three hours there and back), but the kids had a lot of fun, and they were actually *really* *really* good.

I had been dreading the day, not knowing how overstimulated the kids would get. Taking adopted kiddos anywhere this soon after coming home is usually not a good idea, but well, oh well. Tis the season, right?

So, expecting Adam to be inspecting people's ears and mouths, and hanging on them like a monkey, I was pleasantly surprised when he sat nicely, talked nicely, and played nicely with his new cousins. (At least from what I saw!)

The girls did really well too with not being indiscriminantly friendly. I found Aleksa on one cousin's lap, but only after being coaxed. Otherwise, she preferred to stay with Mama and Papa, or playing with her sister or little cousin Glenn and older cousin Kassie. Liana was really reserved and was shy to everyone other than us and Grandma. Doesn't surprise me since she is the most firmly attached to us of the three.

So, I'm breathing an enormous sigh of relief that they are coming along so well. I truly expected to see Aleksa on all the uncles' laps charming them with her dimples and smiles. While she maybe did the charming anyway, she did so from afar this time, and that speaks volumes to me about how she is attaching to us. This is one relieved mama!

Really great day.

Pictures of Liana Valya

I got a wonderful envelope in the mailbox today from the family that adopted from "our" orphanage a year ago. I had put out a query on a few of the Ukraine adoption boards I belong to asking if anyone had pictures of our kids (after I got a picture of Adam out of the blue from that family a few weeks ago). Anyway, a family sent me a handful of pictures of our Liana!!! She has short hair in the pictures and is sooo serious in all the shots. In one, she even has her hands on her hips. The husband of this couple emailed me and gave me a story about our Liana I will always treasure. Here it is:

Hi, this is Donna's husband Kevin. I just wanted to add a few little stories for you. My girls called her Volla.

The first time I saw her she walked over to me and with both hands on her hips like she was in charge of the place. No smile just a look of "what are you doing in my country"! I got down to her level and put out my arms and she came over to me. I picked her up and held her in front of all the other children and her smile was huge!! She would not let me put them down. She squeezed my neck so hard I had to pull her hands off finger by finger. Every day (it took us 12 days to get our girls) when we visited she was ready to be picked up. After a couple of days I had to be careful because our girls would get very mad if we gave any other children attention. I don't know why but I would always make a point give her hugs every day. I think because she would just be so happy for the moment I could give her. I knew she was a child that was adoptable and hoped she would get a chance. My wife and I talked about "little Vole" and how tough she was but new it was her way of dealing with orphanage life. We are so happy you gave her a chance!!

Do you know how long she was in that orphanage?

Kevin


When I showed Liana the pictures of this family today, she pointed to them and said, "This people loves it me." How very thankful I am for this family's kindness to our daughter. They will always hold a special place in my heart.

Anyway, some of these pictures also included Nadia. You know Nadia, right? The sweetie that I can't get out of my head from our trip? The one that makes me cry every time I think of her still being there?

I sooo hope that there comes a day when someone posts on one of "my" boards asking if anyone has a picture of THEIR daughter Nadia so I can breathe easier for this child and share my pics and fond memories of her with them. When I mentioned Nadia to this family, they also remembered her fondly. Ironically, one of the sweet boys that touched this family's heart was in one of the pictures that we sent THEM. So we kinda got to swap pics of the kids we left our hearts with.

That's the thing about going into an orphange. So many sweethearts just wanting a home. If you love children, an orphanage is a very difficult place to be, even if you are bringing home one or two or three of them.

(Nadia! We're praying for you sweetie! Your very own mama is out there somewhere; I just know it!)

Good night little sister!

Finally, the pictures from the other day are working! Sorry about that! Go check 'em out!!! :O)

Tonight when we were putting the kids to bed, Aleksa came into Adam's room and said that she had to say something to Adam. (We were tucking him in.) So, in she came and then said, "Good night, Adam!" Well, that just melted our softy Adam's heart, and he climbed out of bed, got down on his knees at eye-level with her, gave her a big hug and kiss and said, "Good night, little sister, I love you!" (I'm really missing him calling her "Sistrichka," which I think is much sweeter than "little sister.") Anyway, they had a little huggy-kissy brother-sister episode while John and I sat in awe that we could ever in a million years have been so blessed to have such great kids. *bliss*

Gum Out!

Well, we got the gum out! Yay!!! The poor kid had to sit around with peanutbutter in his hair for 30 minutes (directions from Google said to let it sit). We got some great pics and a video to mark the day. Thankfully, he hadn't cut much off his hair before I caught him last night. You can't even tell he did anything to it. *whew* He was really scared he'd be in trouble over this one, but like Aleksa's haircut, the fact that there was gum in his hair is bad enough... no extra consequences necessary. He won't do it again, and that's the goal to any discipling, isn't it? This morning after really explaining that *everyone* does the gum-in-the-hair trick once in their life, and even MAMA did it, he let himself start to think this was actually funny. It was.

Yep, I'm a mom alright!

Well, it took almost four months, but it finally happened. My son got gum in his hair.

We woke up at 2:00 a.m. last night to some strange noises coming out of the baby-monitor. When I went to investigate, I found Adam in the bathroom hiding something behind his back. He had his scissors in his hands. (Instant trouble for that around here, btw. Scissors go in the kitchen only). Anyway, when I asked him what on earth he was doing with scissors at this time of the night, he pointed to his head. Right in the front, there was a giant wad of gum, and though I picked and pulled, it has not come out. So, this morning I did a quick Google Search, and found that lots of people say to use peanutbutter or ice. That's what I remember Mom using on me, so I hope it works because I'm going to try it right away this morning.

Another "Yep, I'm a mom" day!

Progress

Sorry about the pics.... John's gotta fix it. Not my department.

Today my sister-in-law and niece came to town. This was the first time they have met the kids, so it was fun to be able to show them off - in spite of them all running around in their grubbies and our house desperately needing a good vacuuming after dragging all the Christmas decorations out yesterday. Hey, I ain't proud! ;O)

We also had turkey dinner at John's folks' house today with their entire clan. The highlight for me was watching John and Aleksa eat their supper together. She loves her Papa, and had to have an arm around him, give him frequent kisses, and otherwise love him up as much as possible while trying to gobble down her meal at the same time. She's been such an affectionate one lately. She's getting so that when I hold her myself, she has to put my chin in the crook of her arm and hug my head sideways with her palm on my cheek. She does this while she is falling to sleep, but she also does this other times too. It relaxes her somehow, like how some kids twirl their hair or stick their fingers through the holes in their afghan/blankets. Huge blessing to see that kind of attachment to us after how worried I was about her when we first came home. Don't get me wrong, we're still pretty vigilant about letting her be too charming to strangers, but we know that she knows who mama and papa are and that we are first best to her.

Anyway, we've also been trying to figure out the Christmas list this year. Adam will be the hardest, I think, but that might just be because I'm a girl and he's alllll boy. What on earth do 9-yr-old boys like!? He'd be thrilled with a bunch of match-box cars, but that sure doesn't look like a whole lot under the tree. We have to do some more thinking (and unfortunately, John hasn't had any ideas to help out).

Speaking of Adam, he's been doing a lot better in crowds. He got wound up a few times on Thanksgiving day and got in trouble a few times being naughty to people, but today at the Fishers' I don't think he did anything that most kids his age might do (like make their balloons squeak... eeewww). Nice that things aren't quite so overwhelming and overstimulating to him anymore. The poor kid was so stressed when we first came home. The difference between this Adam and THAT Adam is incredible. He's come a long way. Nice that he's feeling more secure and that he's getting the hang of family life in a different country. I sure wouldn't want to have gone through what he has in the last three + months, but boy has he weathered it well. Still has a ways to go, but he's doing great!

Again, I'm sorry about the pics. I can email them to you if want.

Day after Thanksgiving

Ok, today I had a BLAST! This morning after breakfast, we put up our Christmas tree!!! The kids were sooooooooooo excited! They made up songs about the Christmas tree and danced and hopped and jumped and clapped, and helped put everything on the tree. I have candy canes clumped together in one spot, tinsel strewn here and there (Adam put it on my rubber tree, but some wound up on the Christmas tree afterall.) We have clusters of ornaments that ordinarily I would be equally distributing all over the tree, but this year, I could care less. As long as the kids were happy putting it up (and they WERE!), that was all I much cared. Many (most) of my ornaments are not breakable, and I put a bunch of red ribbons on it, so thankfully our tree this year is pretty kid-friendly. I'm not much for having all the ornaments match - my tree is rather hodge-podge. I put things on the tree that mean something to me or remind me of people, places, etc. So, Martha Steward would not be able to stand it, in other words. But hey, my kids think it is the most beautiful thing that ever was, so I'm a happy girl! :O)

I forgot to mention that the other night John made the kids some indian clothes for the kids out of grocery bags. (We had read the Thanksgiving story to them, so we had to get all in the "holiday spirit" ya know!)

The dresses are done! Here are some pics of the last few days. Didn't have any award-winning pics, but at least you can see what we've been up to!

Dresses
Backs of Dresses
Adam making vest
Aleksa's vest
Liana's vest
Hand Turkeys

Happy Thanksgiving!

Talk about a wonderful Thanksgiving!!!

We took pies over to my dad's house in the morning (he said he didn't want turkey and trimmings... just pie), so we spent our Thanksgiving mid-morning with Dad and his pies. Not sure I like that new tradition, but he said he lost his taste for turkey a few years ago, and he wasn't willing to pack himself up and spend the day at someone else's house. So, anyway, I put up his Christmas decorations while we were there, and the kids all got a slice of the cherry pie they helped me make the day before.

Anyway, after that, we came home and fixed our turkey feast; turkey, cranberries, stuffing, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, green bean casserole, vereneky (our new Thanksgiving tradition, John decided), olives, lefse, lotsa Christmas cookies and pie. After we were all done eating, I asked Liana what she liked best about her meal, and she said, "the skin!" (She LOVED the turkey skin and begged all the rest of the day for more. Must be my kid. I love it too, but it has to be crunchy and salty...) The Fishers came over as did Uncle Jared and little cousin Glenn. Nice day.

In the evening we hauled out the card table and had all the kids make hand and feet turkeys. They were pretty cute. Adam's is funny. His foot is exactly as big as mine is (I'm a size 7 1/2), so his turkey's body (the foot) is realllllly tall, especially when his is sitting next to the rest of the kids'.

Lets see, Grandpa brought over an enormous box of popsicle sticks today too. He taught them how to make popsicle stick bombs. So, my new job title for the rest of my life is going to be Chief Stick-picker-upper ! ;O)

I got pretty wilty this evening, so I layed on the couch. Before I knew it, Liana and Aleksa came over to tuck me in. Whenever we tuck the kids in, Aleksa always likes to tell us "what she likes." She'll say, "Mama, I like it yogurt, and juice, and Cream of Wheat, and...." That's her favorite topic of conversation at bedtime for some reason. So, when she tucked me in, she said, "Mama, what you like? You like it juice?" Of course I told her I did, and then she said, "Ok, Mama! Good night!" and kissed me on the cheek. It was cute, but probably not so cute if you hadn't been there and known the background behind why she said what she did.

Before bedtime (and after everyone had left), we all sat on the couch and talked about the things we were thankful for. The kids (and Mama and Papa!) were all thankful for their families. Liana summed it up best by saying, "I all-a-ya loves it!" (Obviously we're not completely fluent around here yet...) They were also very thankful for all their food today, and for their "everyday" food. They were thankful for their warm beds, nice house, that snow was coming soon, and that we could put our Christmas tree up soon, and Adam even said he was thankful for his school work and Mama teaching him! (I about fell over!) We also heard that the election results in Ukraine were cancelled by the Ukrainian Supreme Court until further investigations. *whew* Very thankful about that. (We're really hoping Yushchenko wins). Great way to wrap up the day. The kids were exhausted from all the excitement and playing, and my back was killing me from all the work I put in too. Must mean we had a wonderful day!

Happy, happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Thankful

So much going through my head this week. Cooking, baking, cleaning, decorating. Plus, Thanksgiving day is also my mom's birthday, so I've been thinking about her a lot this week. Many of you already know that my mom died two years ago. It is going to be so bittersweet that our first Thanksgiving together is also going to fall on Mom's birthday.

Anyway, it's just too bad. We'll definitely have one of the best days of our lives on Thursday anyway since we have SOOOOO much to be thankful for. Thursday isn't all about turkey to us. It's about thanking God for what He has given us, and wow do we have a lot to be thankful for this year.

Tonight we had a Thanksgiving service at church and we got to share what we were thankful for. It is always a fun service to attend because we get to hear how many neat things people have been blessed with, but it was so fun this year to be able to thank God for giving us our children. I still sit and wonder how on earth we actually pulled off our adoption at all. There was so much red tape. We had to get so much of our dossier re-done, we had to wait to be approved, wait to be rejected, wait to resubmit our dossier, wait to get an appointment, wait to travel, raise all the money, etc., etc. I can't believe John actually climbed on a plane to Ukraine in the first place! He hates to travel!

I can't remember if I've really shared about switching our approval from two children to three. When I mentioned to John that I had been thinking about the possibility of getting three kids instead of two, I expected an immediate, "ARE YOU CRAZY?" I thought there might have been a heated discussion, but he just said, "yeah, that would be a good idea" (or something as casual as that.) I about fell over; probably because I was still in doubt as to whether it was a good idea or not.

Then when we asked our social worker to approve us for three kids instead of two, we were still unsure if that was what we actually wanted, but wanted to keep the door open. Shockingly, she hardly blinked and approved us right away. !!.

Then when we sent in our $195 ammendment to our INS approval for the approval for one extra child, the letter came back - I had forgotten a stamp. I joked with John saying maybe this was a sign; "Go back! Go back!" He rolled his eyes, reminded me that we don't believe in "signs" and said I was silly. We sent it in again. It came back again. Then I REALLY joked about the "sign." The letter from INS said something that we thought meant that our check was the wrong amount. I frankly thought it was too freaky that we were getting this sent back to us for a second time, and really began to question whether we were making the right decision. Again John said I was being silly, and so we resent it. They sent it back again saying that we didn't have to pay them at all, gave us our check back, and then promptly approved us for free! When I think now I might have just closed the door to our kids altogether all because of a lack of a stamp, I just cringe. (Good job, Honey, not letting me see "signs" in everything...)

Yup, lots to be thankful for this year.

More shots!

Took the kids for some more shots today. Liana was a trooper; didn't even flinch or whimper. The other two on the other hand.... Oy. It's getting worse for each round (we go in once a month for shots to get them caught up). It took three nurses plus me to hold Aleksa down, and as soon as she was done, she shut off the tears and was all smiles and giggles. Little stinker... ;O) The nurses all felt sorry for me when I told them that this was how our plane ride home was. Aleksa has some kinda lungs on her when she's remotely scared.

Adam was Naugh-Ty. He cried, as usual, but also got mad at everyone and wouldn't talk to the nurses after he was done and pretty much threw himself a pity-party. Not really sure how to handle him when he gets that way. I know he's got some anxieties about doctors, but he should not be mad or unkind to people because of it. Don't like that.

We're having the kids all re-tested for parasites, so we get to collect stool samples again. Oh joy. Ask me how excited I am about that...

This afternoon after I declared it time to pick up their bedrooms, Liana made her bed, and then went into her closet and pulled out an outfit that she just got this weekend that happens to perfectly match her blankets. She layed it on her bed and kept it there... It looks pretty next to the blankets, she said. !!??.

Tonight for a treat we all watched Swiss Family Robinson. The kids LOVED it. Lots of squeals of excitement. At the end, the oldest boy gets the girl if you remember. Liana declared that she is going to get married too one day. Her husband is going to have either brown hair and brown eyes or blond hair and blue eyes. Or pink, she said. Well, alrighty then. (Does that mean that any ole man will do?) (Good thing we have a few years to iron those things out...)

Scared of Papa dying

We caught a little glimpse of the Liana we saw on the first day we met her tonight. (You know, the one who said, "Come back, Papa" when we got up to leave on our first visit.) John mentioned death tonight and Liana got all quiet and then she got all teary, and then she was out-and-out crying, (arms flung around his neck), and telling John she didn't want him to die. He had to spend a good half hour convincing her that he wasn't going to die for a very long, long, long time, etc. No problem with attachments and bonding with our Lianichka! Poor little thing. Such a stressful topic for little ones - Especially, I imagine, with those who have had the life-circumstances that she and her brother and sister have. Just finally settling in to someplace good, and then we go and mention the "d" word. I'd be stressed too! (We love you Liana! xox)

Happy National Adoption Day!

This morning we all piled in the car and went to help make blankets for some orphans in China. A 13-yr-old girl from church is making them for a project to earn a badge for Girl Scouts. She solicited donations from area businesses and others for this project and she wound up with enough fleece fabric for 28 tie-blankets. Pretty cool! Anyway, that's a lot of blankets for one girl to make, so she enlisted the help of some folks from church. We thought it was a pretty neat opportunity for our kids to learn to help others - and especially orphans. Great way to celebrate National Adoption Day (today), and Adoption Awareness Month. The kids wondered if we were going to drive to China after we were done. Um, no....

Mom Fisher looked at the girls' dresses today. She took them home to fix them. !. At least I tried, right?! I'll post pics when I get the dresses back. (No close-ups, mind you...) ;O)

"Don't eat it bugs!"

Not a whole lot happening here, but I do have a few cute stories...

The other night when we tucked Aleksa in, instead of us saying, "Good night, sleep tight, don't let the bedbugs bite," she said to us, "Good night, don't eat it bugs!" (We promised we wouldn't!)

A few days ago I was wearing my "Dr. Seuss sweatshirt" around the house. My cousin had given it to me a few months ago. It has the Cat in the Hat on it, as well as "Thing One" and "Thing Two," and a Star-bellied Sneetch and the Grinch. I figured the kids would love me wearing some of the familiar characters in their books. Well, Liana was sitting on my lap chatting with me when she told me I really shouldn't wear that sweatshirt. I was surprised and asked her why. She pointed to each character and said, "Own bad, own bad, own bad, own bad, own bad." ("Own" is my sounded-out spelling of the word for "He.")

Ya know, I guess she's right! What kind of a mama am I?!!! It's amazing how discerning kids can be where parents are sometimes completely oblivious. All three kids will often will tell me at the grocery store that the music is "yucky." They don't know what the songs are saying yet, but obviously they thing the tune says something, and ya know, if you listen to what the words say, they are very often right on the money. Kids are smart people.

The older two had to talk to Uncle Jared in the worst way yesterday. They had been cutting and drawing and pasting a project for him. Then Auntie Cara called me and as we chatted, I mentioned Jared's name. Well, that's all it took, and they started pleading with me to call him. Fun that their English is progressing well enough to do so and be understood by anyone other than me and John. They both enjoyed their chats with their uncle and later begged us to go to Uncle Jared's house to give him their projects.

Adam was extra snuggly yesterday. Every opportunity he had he was either on my lap, next to me, holding my hand, arm around me, etc. We finished the second half of "Chitty-Chitty-Bang-Bang" last night, and he had to snuggle me like a pillow. (I'm so thankful to be able to get in on this side of him before he "outgrows the desire" to be so affectionate with Mama. I keep telling him that he's going to go rock-rock with Mama until he's 42. He's not so sure about that one...)

John invented a fun game to play with the kids last night. We've been collecting juice-can lids (the kids love to play with those!) We also have a few empty glass pickle jars (the big ones - you know how we go through those things around here!) So, John put a pickle jar on each end of the livingroom, and then we split into two teams. Then, one team takes a lid and tries to maneuver through the room to get it to the "basket" (or jar!) on the other end. The other team can tickle, block, etc. to stop the lid from making it. We had a blast. Even Aleksa got a few "baskets" tonight. She was soooo proud! We're going to have to do more of that game. Great fun!

Three Months Home

I can't believe it has been three months already, and I can't believe it has ONLY been three months. Haven't we *always* had an Adam, Liana and an Aleksa running around?

I think the biggest changes so far have been in this month. Their language is taking off first of all. They can hold intelligible conversations with non-family members now, with only occasional translation helps from John and me. They just keep getting better and better each day. The older two can count to 100 with a little help here and there, and I think I have mentioned elsewhere that they can say their days of the week and they've almost got the months of the year down.

Adam is still intrigued by water, soap and bubbles. Just tonight I had to ask him why the ceiling in the bathroom was soaking wet after his bath... And yesterday I burst into the bathroom after hearing the toilet flush four times. I figured there was an emergency in there, but instead it was Adam, sitting on the throne flushing after each "plop." (Sorry; too much information, I'm sure!) I also have to make sure the kitchen sink stays free of dishes or else Adam will, like a magnet, wash up the dishes using half the bottle of dishsoap.

Really though, Adam is a GREAT kid! I took all three to the grocery store today to pick up a few things, and Adam held both girls' hands, and cooed over his "sistrichkas" telling them that they were his baby sisters, etc. If we ask him to help do something, he does it whole-heartedly and takes pride in his job. He loves to help make John's lunch in the morning, loves to open doors for people, carry in bags, vacuum, dust, do laundry, etc. Pretty much a mother's dream. (He even gives great massages!) If I'm exhausted and want to lay down with Aleksa for her naptime, Adam will play quietly with his legos or cars in his room.

Liana is starting to mourn her past life. She's talking about the orphanage and her old family more and more, and will tell us she feels bad about different things and miss other things. Adam did this more his first month home, but I think Liana is finally feeling like she's not ever going to leave here (that's just a guess), so maybe that's why she's talking about Ukraine more now. I wish John and I had a better idea of what exactly her past life was like, but from what we've heard and seen, we know that all three of our kids are really remarkable, brave little people.

She has really taken off with her school stuff too. She doesn't do as well as Adam with letter-recognition, but she can out-count him very easily, and can remember and articulate words a lot better than Adam. For instance, Adam might mumble the words in Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star, but Liana will belt out every word. She's been able to say the "Now I know my ABC's" part of the alphabet song since last month sometime, but Adam still mumbles most of the words. She's a smart cookie, and I think this has caused a little competition between Adam and Liana in a lot of areas. They both like to be top dog, and Liana gives Adam a run for his money at everything.

Aleksa! What a sweetie! Because I call all of our kids "Sunshine" in the morning, Adam has started calling Aleksa this too, as well as "Leksa Lou." She just has a way of wrapping everyone around her finger! She has really learned a lot these last few months about how to love people. She loves a good tickle, a good cuddle, a good snuggle, etc. When I lay down with her at naptime, she has to hold my cheek to her cheek, and she has to stay with her palm pressed on my cheek. She loves to pat my head, stroke my hair, give me kisses (one on each cheek), etc. and that is an enormous change from when she first came home. She doesn't push my hands away when I touch her anymore (that's been gone a while though). She loves to talk to us and will make things up to chat about if it means we will stay an extra minute to talk to her at bedtime. She is still way behind most other kids her age, but she has come sooooo far! She loves to cut and paste, but doesn't really enjoy coloring, which is weird to me. She just makes little circles on a page if we give her a blank page to draw on. If I ask her to draw a head, then draw eyes, a nose, etc., then she'll do so, but they are still only circles. She loves Color Wonder markers/paper though, and that's been the only way I've found to get her interested in any colorbook type coloring. She's a cutter though (as are the other two), and loves to take a pencil and pretend-write on a little notebook. She's definitely not a color-er though.

At month one, I thought, "wow, I'm busy, but am I a happy camper." At month two, I thought, "wow, I'm busy, but not quite AS busy, but I'm a happy camper." Here at month three, I look back and think, "Boy were month one and two stressful! This month has been so much easier! I'm a happy camper!"

Everyone is getting to know everyone by now, and the major boundaries have already been discovered and tested so there isn't the stress of constantly correcting and teaching everyone simple things that most other kids their age learned years ago. Month three has been the month to really relax and enjoy everyone. We've all learned a good routine, and though that still needs some refining, it is good enough for the kids to feel safe and relaxed. School has been great; they've learned a lot, and we've gone to great lengths to keep the goal of their first months home to be to feel safe and learn how to be a family. We could very easily have completely overwhelmed our Adam especially. Adam clams up when he feels any kind of pressure, especially with numbers, so there is no doubt that our approach of keeping things light has been wise. (We haven't always been successful at that, but for the most part, we have really tried.)

Anyway, I can finally look back and say, "Boy, I'm glad we're not still in that super-newly-home stage of the game anymore!" This was a great month, and with the holidays coming up, next month is going to be WONDERFUL! Can't wait!!!

Killer Headache

Sorry, no post last night. I had a killer sinus headache which was extra-aggravated by all the coughing I've been doing. My head felt like it was going to explode, so I went to bed by 7:15 or so.

Yesterday was our 3 month home anniversary, so I'm going to have to write some extra stuff for tonight.

Just wanted to check in before the day got going and let you know I'm still here, but just feeling rotten.

Nice People

Feeling better over here finally. We're all perking up a bit, but I have a cough from deep in my lungs that I don't really like. But at least I feel better.

This afternoon my cousin came by with my krumkake iron (this is Norwegian country up here). I had let her borrow it for the annual Larson Lady Cookie Day (my mom was a Larson). My aunts, cousins, etc. get together every year to bake a gazillion cookies and then divide up. I missed it this year. I would have loved to have gone, but it was in Madison (2 hour drive), and I don't think the girls are ready to embark on such an event. Especially with a house full of "mamas." I need to steer them clear of those situations for a while yet. They crawl up on any warm body who looks remotely friendly, and trust me, my mother's "people" are about as friendly as they come - and THEN some!

Anyway, Sue gave me my cookie iron back, and then gave me a million cookies too! I couldn't believe they gave me a share of the goods too when I wasn't even there! They are so generous! Plus, she gave us flashcards, computer games, clothes for Adam, etc., etc. It felt like Christmas here! What a blessing! I think I can learn a lot from these people. They are some of the most generous and loving people I've ever known. They've really got the "giving" lesson down. They give until it hurts and then they give some more. Yep, I'd like to be more like that.

Lemme see... We ran into Auntie Sharon and Grandpa today while we were out and about, and as we went our separate ways, Liana said to me, "Tyotya Sayla loves it menya!" ("Auntie Sharon loves me!") Sharon has a way of oozing affection all over you. (She's half Larson, you know!) Liana was still talking about her tonight. She giggled and told me she thinks Tyotya Sayla wants her to live at her house. "Probably so!" I told her, "but no way! Not by the hair of my chinny-chin-chin because Liana is MY baby!" She laughed and laughed.

After supper I tried to salvage the dresses that I'm making for the girls. I sure did a number on 'em! They need some kinda help, but I'm going to fake it and hope nobody turns over the hems to see how good of a job I did. I should have started with a much easier pattern than I did. I sewed the matching hats for the dresses tonight, and they turned out cute, though I haven't seen them on the girls yet. John told me I couldn't go in and wake them up to try them. Spoil sport. All I need to do yet on the dresses is put the buttons on the back neck and a little more hemming. The tie-backs I mentioned before will have to wait a bit.

Off to bed now, I'm zonked.

Still sick

Still laying low with all our bugs around here. The school schedule was pretty drawn out today with lots of breaks, and much of it was done all snuggled together under piles of blankets. My kinda school! ;O) I couldn't think of any reason why learning how to count by 10's and 5's couldn't be done all snuggled up. Plus our regular counting regime, reading time, reciting the days of the week, months of the year (they've almost got all of the months down now!), etc. all happened cuddled under a half-dozen blankets in one of the kids' rooms. School is much nicer when we're all so cozy, though I nearly lost my voice several times today from overuse. Germies abound at the Fisher house these last few days. Aleksa is starting to cough too, but Adam has avoided it so far.

John is in rough shape too. He has excruciating knots in his back. We had a role-reversal tonight and the kids all tucked Papa in instead of him tucking everyone else in! Poor guy.

I let the kids pick what their afternoon snack would be today. I expected them to say cookies since we have some yummy peanutbutter cookies from Grandma sitting on the counter. But instead, they all wanted apples. Weird.

Anyway, sorry. Y'all don't want to read about our aches and pains or apple-snacks. Not a whole lot else happening here that is blog-worthy as you can see!

Email from another Bilgorod family

Liana and I still aren't feeling very well. I sure hope we do get over all the illnesses before the holidays.

I got an email today from a family who adopted from the same orphanage we did in Bilgorod-Dnistrovsky. They brought their little girl home in February of 2003. She sent me a few pictures of her daughter, and lo and behold, our Adam in is one of them! It is so nice to have a picture (even though he has a squinty-awful look on his face) of his orphanage days from before we arrived on the scene. Their trip was in the winter, so it was weird to see the same scenes with snow dumped all over everything. Also, they had the same POA we did! Weird to see our Vica in her pictures! Anyway, I jotted her a line back and hopefully there will be more pictures exchanged in the near future.

Making it short again tonight. I'm shot.

Sick-o's

Sorry y'all, I've not been feeling the greatest this weekend. I had a fever on and off all day yesterday, and we've been really busy anyway, so I've been wrung out by bedtime. (Keeping it short tonight as well; just wanted y'all to know where I've been!)

Yesterday a friend came by and gave the kids a giant box of icecream treats. Talk about becoming an instant best friend! It was sure nice of her, and the kids talked about her for the rest of the afternoon. (She even promised to bring her puppy over next time!)

Adam went hunting with the guys in my side of the family. He and John just went along for the fun of it (didn't bring guns, that is). Adam sure felt all important though, that he got to go somewhere with Papa.

We girls stayed home and made cookies. I made some divinity and some Ukrainian honey cookies. I might have done something wrong with them, but they weren't the greatest. I'd never had them before, but apparently they are pretty typical. I'm used to ooey-gooey-super-sweet-chocolate-on-the-outside-caramel-on-the-inside kind of American cookies, I guess. I noticed while in Ukraine that their sweets aren't as sweet as ours to begin with, so maybe that's the issue. Not sure. We had some breakfast sweet-bread there once that was really hard for me to get all the way through... It *really* needed some powdered-sugar frosting on top.

Liana isn't feeling the greatest either. She and I crashed early last night on the couch, and has been sniffling and coughing today.

People have been noticing more and more that when you have a chat with the kids, that they are speaking mostly English back to them - and that they understand them. I talked to Adam on the phone today when he and John were at my dad's house after The Hunt. This was only the second time I've ever talked to any of the kids on the phone. He spoke all English to me, (very short responses though), and instead of his "Dah's," he said, a very polite-sounding, "yes." He has a very sweet, high, Vienna-boy-choir-like speaking voice. He can't really hold a tune when he sings, but he has a sweet-sounding voice when he hits the right notes. Anyway, he sounded very "proper" on the phone, and he actually reminded me of an English (as in "from England") boy.

I'm exhausted. Night everyone!

Misc ramblings

We're closing in on Month Three, and I have been tickled pink that my kids still think that cleaning is fun. They still fight over who gets to vacuum and dust. It's just amazing. (*woe is me*) ;O)

Also, Adam has been really wanting me to let him figure out how to do the laundry (he loves machines and buttons and loud noises...) So, today I taught him the joys of sorting clothes by colors, figuring out hot/warm/cold water, etc. I wonder how long these joys will last! ;O) I think I started doing my own laundry when I was just a couple years older than he is though, so I don't feel *too* bad.

Of the three, Adam keeps his room the neatest. He makes his bed without being told, and he really takes pride in keeping his room clean. He didn't start out that way, that's for sure, but the longer he has been home, the more inclined to keep a tight ship. Fine with me; if he ever marries, his wife will love that about him! (His bookshelves are a mess though... I guess he figures as long as it isn't on the floor, it is clean).

I had a lot of chores to do this afternoon, so I didn't have time to nap with 'Leksa. I layed her down in her bed and let Liana and Adam play quietly in the other room. I wondered how it would go since the last time I tried that, she screamed her head off because she was scared of being alone. It lasted about five minutes and then she started crying. I put her on the couch with the rest of us in the kitchen and she was out within a couple minutes as usual. She has to have someone within earshot at all times, but preferably sleeping right there with her. (I prefer that too. Nothing sweeter on earth than to have a little girl hug you as she sleeps.)

Speaking of, when I wake them up in the morning, I usually sing "You Are My Sunshine" to them. Aleksa listens and then will sing the last word in each phrase with me. Kinda cute. I've been calling her my "Leksa Lou." Adam has started calling her that too, and I have to chuckle whenever he says it. Just something about a non-native-English-speaker adding a "Lou" to someone's name. Cracks me up.

Adam's fish tank had been a little yucky, so John has changed it a few times recently, and we wound up having to take all the fake-foliage out. Hopefully we can put it back soon; his poor fish is bored to death. We were worried that the slime on the sides of the tank was making the fish sick, and when we told that to Adam, he got all "parental" and went over to the tank, stroked the glass and cooed at the fish telling it that he loved it and that he needed to get better, etc. He's such a softy. He's a father-hen to the girls (ok, mostly to Aleksa); he loves animals; he loves to be touched and to touch, etc. He also has said that he wants ten children. Five girls and five boys. I told him he'd better be a lawyer or doctor then, because that was a lot of mouths to feed! His response was, "Ya smart, Mama; ya smart!" as he tapped the side of his forehead. Yup, he is!

Ok, speaking of "yup," my Liana has picked up my bad habit of saying that. Grrr. Only when she says it, it sounds like, "Yop." The Russian word, "dah" for "yes" has been one they've hung onto the longest without changing, so this new "yup" thing sounds funny to me to hear instead of "dah." They haven't yet used the word "and" yet either. Some of the most common words are the ones they have hung onto the longest in Ukrainian/Russian. They still don't use the English personal pronouns (I, you, he, she, it, they, we), though the rest of the sentence might be in English. Exceptions might be for phrases that we use all the time like, "I love you." Then they'll use the pronoun, but probably only because they have learned the phrase as a unit, and not because they constructed it themselves.

School stuff

Lemme see... Not a whole lot going on here today. The kids are doing great with their school stuff, except Adam has a fear of numbers. I have the same thing I suppose, but he sees a number and he's ready to run for the hills. Ok, not quite. He just keeps telling himself that he can't do math and then he gets all panicky about it. We're trying to lay low with them for now and not stress the kids out with cramming info in their heads. Our main project with the kids is to get them feeling settled and safe in a family. But we do have them do some book-work though, so that by the time we are ready (and speaking English!), they will know all their letters and sounds, numbers and sequences. Dot-to-dots have been hard for him, yet good for him. He has gotten tons better at them, but he still tells himself he can't do it without asking us at every dot what comes next. If we give him a list of numbers with one missing, he panics and can't do it. If, however, I take a number off of the calendar without him looking, and ask him what goes there, he can tell me without much problem. It's sitting him down with a pencil and making him stare at a number that scares him. Another Ukie-adopter-homeschool-mom recommended what she called "potato chip math." She said when her boy came home she would say, "How many chips do you want?" and he would say a number. Then she would purposely give him less and ask how many more he needed to make that number. Then she'd say, "That's because 2+4=6!" That's Adam's kind of mathematics! (Mine too... where were my chips in Algebra class?)

I took the kids to Walmart today and we shopped for a letter. (Might have mentioned doing that before, as today isn't the first time we've done this.) If the kids are having a hard time remembering what a certain letter looks like during school-time, when I take them shopping that week, we go hunting for that letter. We find the letters on signs, on labels, etc., etc. Wow, has that helped a lot, and the kids think it's fun. (They can say their alphabet perfectly, but we're still working on recognizing the letters in print.)

Speaking of, Adam was looking at the pictures in a Reader's Digest that we had laying around, and he asked me what a word said that was graffiti written on a bus. It said, "Kill," which wasn't the nicest word, but oh well, that's what it said. Anyway, as I was wishing it said something else, he started to sound it out, and lo and behold, he read it! Couldn't believe it! (I'm not pressuring them to read at all right now. Until they are really speaking English well, I don't want to tackle that project. Makes no sense to learn to read a language you don't speak. Working on the basics here.) Anyway, I was pretty proud, and it was a big relief to me that he is intuitively sounding things out. Hopefully that will make it easier once we sit down more formally to do so.

As we were reading today, all of a sudden Liana stopped me and said, "what 'instead?'" (I had just read that Belle wanted the Beast to take her instead of her papa). I got to camp a minute to explain it, and she seemed satisfied, so we continued. (Believe me, our Liana would definitely let me know if she didn't understand! She asks more questions when we read of any little kid I've ever seen. It amazes me that the other two kids don't slug her to make her be quiet as they try to listen. Nobody has yet, though one night when Aleksa asked more questions than normal, Liana told her to "be quiet!") Anyway, we got toward the end of the book where Belle tells the Beast she loves him, and Adam piped up, "Spell broken, dah, Mama?" My first reaction was, "How on earth do you know about spells being broken?!" and then I read the next line which said that the "spell was broken." It's amazing how much they learn from books, and how much they remember. I know I've only read that book a few times before.

The dollhouse is still in one piece! And strangely enough, Adam has claimed it. I'm still scratching my head about that, but it does have duct tape all over it, and Papa made it with his Swiss Army knife, so maybe he just figures it was a handyman project for "guys?" Who knows. But, it's in his room among his cars, balls and legos. Adam just likes to have stuff. This is the same kid who hung my kitchen clock in his bedroom closet when we first came home. Thankfully, his gimmes have tamed down a LOT. I no longer have to pat him down at the store, though I still do watch him like a hawk just to make sure.

Language Barriers

Well, today I realized why our kids were so excited when I told them about the other little girl coming home from Ukraine... They had been waiting all day for her to walk through the door and come and live with us. That language barrier seemed to have gotten in the way when I was telling them about the situation yesterday. They were pretty bummed when I said she wasn't going to live with us. One of the reasons I found out what they were thinking was that Adam asked me where this girl was going to sleep. Oops. (This family in UA, btw, said that they would try to use Katya as their driver and get her addy for us! Yay!)

Then, tonight, I was chatting with my sister online, and John was playing with the kids. When I got out into the kitchen, I discovered my wonderful hubby building a cardboard dollhouse for the kids! (And it was a pretty nice one too! In fact, if I were 6-yrs-old, I would want to play and play and play with it!) All three kids were pretty excited about it. I think Adam just liked the construction part of it, but who knows. Hopefully it won't be demolished by tomorrow afternoon. I have some doll furniture and stuff that I was hoping to wait until Christmas to hand out. Not sure if I can wait that long now!

I mentioned the other day that we hadn't been hearing lots more English from the kids and that they had reached a plateau. Well, I don't know what happened, but they've been babbling up a storm in English now. In fact, we have been hearing very little Russian. They still occasionally will sing a song from Ukraine, but not very often any more. :O( They use Russian/Ukr grammar and word order in their sentences quite often, but most often, the words they say are English. The kids were outside playing this afternoon, and Liana told me that Adam didn't have his coat on. So, I asked her to tell him to put it on. She opened the door, and said, "Adam! Put your coat on!" Perfect English. But then, she turned to Aleksa and said, "Adam ni put your coat on!" (Which was "Adam didn't put his coat on.")

I also heard Liana today calling her pants her "pants on." That one has sure been around a long time. She just can't seem to remember to drop the "on."

Speaking of hard habits to break, Adam is still dumping shampoo all over the place. He thinks it is bubble bath or something. After his bath tonight, there was still a thick layer of suds all over the tub, the wall, the floor, etc. The girls thought it was great though and had a blast with the after-effects of Adam's escapades. I'm sure it is fun to play with the soap, but boy is it getting old to be going through so much shampoo!

Yesterday was the first time the kids have asked us if they could say the table prayer for our meals. We got a lot of praying done yesterday and today because they each decided they had to have a turn. Their prayers are in English, but they are something like this, "Jesus, meat; Jesus, carrots; Jesus, milk; Jesus lotsa play; Jesus, lotsa tickle; Jesus, popcorn; Amen." John and I just look up at each other and smile when they're done. They're just such cuties!

Dollhouse

Another little girl coming home from Ukraine!

I have been beside-myself-excited today. I found out that one of the families in our adoption group are headed to Bilgorod-Dnistrovsky to meet their little girl! I had to quick-as-lightning fire off an email giving them the info on motel and taxi driver. I soooooo hope they get to meet our driver Katya! Wouldn't that be soooo cool?! I have regretted since coming home was not getting Katya's address. I would love to send her a Christmas card or something to let her know we still think of her. (You all remember our Katya, dontcha?) She was one of the biggest highlights of our whole trip. I so hope it works out that they meet her.

The kids didn't seem to remember this girl, so she is probably at the other orphanage in B-D. (There are two). She is 8-yrs-old (God bless them for adopting an older child!), so she probably is in the other one. Hope everything works out well for them!

Naughty 'Leksa!

Liana said her verse today for Sunday School, so she got a toy from the teacher. It is a little bear that has hearts on it's shirt. We suggested that she name it Valentina, so she's been calling it Valya. Funny to hear that name around here again.

Aleksa was a grump today. Oy. She's been crying at the drop of a hat today for some reason. I thought I was the only one who did that around here! At church she was clicking her pen on and off and on and off (driving me crazy!), so I took it away. She cried a little bit (silently, but she was definitely sulking), and then during the closing prayer, something or other happened and she hit Liana. I grabbed her hand and said, "Aleksa!" (quietly, of course). She started SCREAMING. She's just gotta cut that out! So, I had to put my hand over her mouth to muffle her scream, plus make my way out of the pew without tripping, and then run out of the auditorium. Mama was not happy. 'Leksa got in a weeeeee bit of trouble over that one.

Found out the kids are going to be in the Christmas play for their Jr. Church class. It's a "Christmas around the world" theme, and one of the speaking parts goes to Adam, who gets to say a line about how they celebrate Christmas in Ukraine! Apparently, Jesus is referred to as the "Open Door" by Christians in Ukraine, so his line has something to do with that, plus they sing a song about it. (Never heard that, has anyone else out there?) I asked their teacher if this would be a good opportunity for them to wear their Ukrainian folk dress. She sounded excited at the possibility, so I guess it's a go! (That reminds me... Gotta get the kids in to get their pictures taken with them before they completely outgrow them.)

Beautiful Fall Day

Today was another perfect fall day. Sunshine and no coats needed. We all piled in the car and went to my dad's house to rake the rest of his lawn. The kids just love the leaf-blower, and had lots of fun "helping." ;O) Aleksa had fun not helping, as she did last time. Dad sat under a tree in the yard watching the rest of us work, and more than once I looked over to see Aleksa sitting close beside him just hanging out with Grandpa. The leaf-blower makes a loud racket, so neither of them could really chat, but they sure chummed.

This morning I made pancakes. This is the second time since we got home that I made them. The first time I made them nobody liked them. (The girls were still in their "picky-eater" stage.) This time, everyone gobbled them down. I'm not sure that I mentioned it before, but the girls' pickiness about what they eat has worn off. Maybe it was just the stress of getting used to everything. Probably. They're all over it though, as is Adam's tendency to beg for seconds, thirds, fourths, fifths... :O) He can still pack the food away, but food isn't at all an issue anymore. The worst he's done with food is putting a handful of candy in his pocket the other day at the farm. Pretty typical nine-year-old-boy stuff.

This afternoon instead of Aleksa taking her nap with Mama, Papa sprawled out on the couch with her. She's soooo easily "out." All you have to do is lay still with her for about three minutes and she's out. When she comes up to us and says, "Mama, ya ni tired" ("mama, I'm not tired"), that means it's naptime. Anyway, it was fun to see her snuggling with her Papa... I don't think John has had the chance to nap with her before, so I know he loved it too. She's definitely a snuggler, and it is so fun that she loves to be held and slept with. She comes up to us more and more often to tell us she wants to be held "like this; a baby" as she rocks a pretend baby in her arms. Then she makes baby gurgle sounds as we scoop her up and rock her. We know our days are numbered for such opportunities, so when the come, we take 'em! It is so nice to see her doing that at all with as worried as I was about her attachment to us when we first came home with her. She still likes strangers too much for my liking, but she's doing soooo great on all other fronts.

It seems like we've hit some kind of plateau with their English-speaking. Their comprehension is amazing, but they haven't made a lot of progress with their speaking in the last week or so. I've been told Month Four is a magic month, but I was also told that for Month Three. With them having each other to talk to, I'm sure it might take a little longer than most other families' Ukie kiddos. *sigh*. Liana did learn her Sunday School memory verse for this week, if her teacher can understand her. The verse is, "The words of the Lord are pure words." Liana has a speech impediment even in Ukrainian with her "r's" and "l's." Besides that, the "th" for Russian/Ukrainian speakers is tough because there is no sound like that in those languages. So, Liana's verse sounds something like, "Da wodes of da Wode ow pew wodes." Gonna hafta get the video tape out again... ;O)

School and Ukrainian Months of the Year

I finally feel pretty good about our routine for school. Thankfully kids love routines and habits, so they've been helping with remembering "what comes next." The kids love calendar time (thanks, Sharon!) I laminated numbers for our calendar and they get to take turns each day telling me what number goes up next, and what day tomorrow will be, what day of the week it is, etc. They know the days of the week and we are working on the months. I know the months of the year in Ukrainian, so we also go over those too. Don't want them to forget those either. I just love the Ukrainian words for the months of the year. Ukrainian is one of the most beautiful languages in the world. Very poetic. Let me digress and ramble a little on the subject... (I can do that, it's my blog!)

The words for the months actually mean something in Ukrainian. Like the word for January means "Slicing" as in "the wind slices right through you." "February" means the "angry month." I suppose it is because of the weather. "March" means "birch tree" because the sap starts running in the birch trees then. "April" means "flowers" for obvious reasons. "May" means "grasses" for obvious reasons. "June" means "reddening" as in the fruits and vegetables start growing and turning red. "July" means "linden tree." "August" means "Sickles." "September" means "heather." "October" means "yellow colors." "November" means "leaves are falling." "December" means "the ground freezes." Sure beats our boring names of the months. When I learned the months of the year I really started to feel bad that our "future kids" would have to trade in such a beautiful language for our dry and toasty one. *Sigh.*

Anyway, I've been having fun with school stuff, and having to be creative to get things into their little heads. Today I invented a game using alphabet refrigerator magnets and a bag. They put six letters at a time into the bag and then suggested what letter the other person had to "find" using just their hand in the bag. It was great, because they really had to know what they were looking for, and they could be a little competitive and have fun. Worked great. Adam did better than I did, in fact!

Liana hasn't been feeling well the last few days. She's been running a fever and felt crummy. She perked up this afternoon, thankfully. I think she'll be fine by tomorrow.

Lets see, not a whole lot else going on. I had some leftover verenyky dough from last night, so I pulled out a can of cherry pie filling and made some filled the dough with that. YUM. Just boiled it up a few minutes and yum, yum! When Adam saw what I was doing tonight, he patted me on the back and said, "Good JOB, Mama!" I thought that was cute.

Their English is coming along. I decided to try reading a *much* harder book today than usual to see how well their comprehension was. It is a chapter book with only a sketch picture once every chapter or so. Anyway, I was pleasantly surprised at how well they followed me. They even begged for an extra chapter when I said we could read more tomorrow. Amazing how fast children pick up a language. Not even home three months!

Verenyky

Well, I decided to go for it, and I whipped up a batch of verenyky tonight for supper. John and I had these in Ukraine, and we've both been hungry for them since. They're like ravioli but in the shape of fortune cookies. They have the pasta/dough stuff on the outside and then meat, potatoes, sauer kraut, or mushrooms on the inside. You can also put raisins, poppy-seeds, prunes, cherries, etc. on the inside and make a dessert with them. We had them with hamburger, onions, salt and pepper inside.

Anyway, they were a HIT! John and I ate them tossed with butter and then dipped in ketchup while we were in Ukraine. (We loved the ketchup there. YUM YUM YUM). The ketchup was the only thing missing tonight. Otherwise, it tasted the same, and we were soooo tickled!

Adam was ecstatic that we had a Ukrainian supper, and kept saying, "Good job, Mama! You're Ukrainian!" (But he said it in Ukrainian). The girls just thought it was fun to roll out the dough with me. It was soooo much fun! Can't wait to try another recipe out. Bread next time!