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*