New fun stuff today!

Today contained some firsts:

Daniel sang with the preschool CD. Maria's been doing the motions and started singing the words too last week. Today was Daniel's first singing - it was so sweet to hear him singing about Jesus. And, Momma got pretty mushy thinking about what he was doing this time last year and how he likely never heard that special name, Jesus, last Christmas. He sure sings it sweetly.

We put up the tree for the first time last night. Tonight we had to go take off ornaments and put them where they really went!

This afternoon Aunt Gay Lynn made them hot chocolate and we got a new reaction. Daniel kissed the cup and the spoon. He was already a chocolate milk fan - huge fan, so guess it was no surprise but that was better than ANY ochen kooshna (really tasty in Russian) we've ever had!

We're getting a bunch of English now - where they would only repeat words at first, now they're speaking phrases back to us. Today it was "push me please" on the slide and "hold on" when it was that time. Momma's looking forward to more of this!

They have a school system evaluation to hopefully get some help with some difficult sounds for them in English on Tuesday. We'd like them to start off as solidly as they can - even if they are too late for "Early Starts". I'd sure appreciate y'all's prayers that they do their best and that it is a productive time. Daniel and Maria are perfectly capable of just responding "poopka" to everything when they don't want to share what they know.

More pictures and Daniel is Sobbing

Daniel is SOBBING because he misses his grandfather and all of the fun we had with cousins. My heart is breaking. It was a great time we had with their cousins, but we started out with "I gots to bicycle" and now its "I got to Callan", "I got to Kenna", "I got to Carson", "I gots to Papa". I'm with him - we had a great time. He came and put my shoes on to go home.

We had a pretty good evening putting up the tree, but that is all a distant memory now.

The Cousins had GREAT fun!

What a time we had at Grandma and PawPaw's house. The children (all 5) played hard! Aunt Kayla's 3 already knew the ropes and all of the fun stuff to do and enjoyed showing it all to Daniel and Maria. We didn't even make it to the end of Thanksgiving Day before Kenna told me that I'd picked good children - God did that, but He certainly picked a pair that fit right into our family. The girls all loved playing hair and makeup and Daniel LOVED driving the electric GATOR around - all of the other children in tow. Daniel went for a real tractor "drive" with PawPaw. All of the children went to see the cows and baby calves. Oh - and we cannot forget the 4-wheeler rides and painting. There were plenty of smiles to go around.

There's still much work to do on English, but I knew we were getting somewhere when I heard Daniel tell Maria in English to "come here"! Enjoy some pictures from the festivities.

Off to Grandma and PawPaw's

We'll probably not be updating until Sunday or so. We've got an exciting rest of the week planned. We packed suitcases and bicycles and will be heading to Babooshka and Dyadooshka's house for Thanksgiving. We talked to Aunt Elena last night and she doesn't think they understood that we were going to the farm. They were up quite early this morning - either because Momma was up getting ready or they were excited. I thought we did admirably getting off....we'll just see if we ended up with everything we need.

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

Gotta be quick!

Definitely was reminded once again just how quick you have to be to keep up with Daniel and Maria. Both Daniel and Maria both thought that cooking oil was apple juice when they saw it in the grocery store. Obviously, they didn't understand when I told them that it wasn't juice. Aunt Gay Lynn called today saying that she'd made us macaroni and cheese for supper and she'd have it for us if we stopped on our way home (yes, huge blessing - and I figured just what the doctor ordered for my son who is not eating much of anything and who Momma thinks is looking very thin).

Anyway, Aunt Gay Lynn and I turned our heads in the kitchen in the midst of her all day long preparations for multiple Thanksgiving feasts. We got whiplash turning back when we heard a resound "Yuck" or the Russian equivalent. Mr. Fast had taken the lid off of the oil and drank a big gulp while we weren't looking - obviously thinking we were holding out on the good stuff. I'd have loved to have a picture of that face!

I'm not sure what is going one with Daniel and Maria. They're both getting to be pickier eaters (didn't start out that way at all!), but Daniel is really not eating much of anything. Hie repertoire is chocolate milk, yogurt drinks, apple, and banana. I got him to list off his favorite foods since he came to America and that was the entire list. He even drank some eggnog yesterday and said that it was good and never drank another sip. And, to show his true lack of taste, he did not eat Aunt Gay Lynn's macaroni and cheese which I can assure you was perfectly delicious and even worthy of seconds for a skinny little guy.

This new mom would definitely appreciate any wisdom on getting him to eat. Do I just serve what he should and has eaten and he eats it or not? Do I try to have plenty of apples and bananas and yogurt to supplement the meal he won't eat? I'm not sure and would appreciate your wisdom.

Family Day at Preschool

Yesterday was family day at preschool. Momma learned yesterday that it is hard being in two classrooms at one time. They were semi-staggered, but I had to miss some of each of their events. They had a carnival like thing in their gym and then each class had lunch - Maria's with each child having picked their favorite food to bring (grapes for Maria) and Daniel's class had a full turkey feast to which we added napkins and cookies (Daniel was SOOOOO proud to bring them).

Daniel's class had made indian headbands and t-shirts and I thought I had the cutest little indian in the place (I'm somewhat biased of course!). Unfortunately, Daniel didn't eat much of anything except the cookies he brought - and of course, he picked out the M&M's in them and shared the rest of the cookies with a pretty lady nearby (he's consistent). Just so happened it was a babysitter of another child who is interested in adopting, so she was interested in meeting Daniel and hear about our journey.

You can always click on the pictures to make them bigger. We've got some cute smiles in there - and Daniel is proud to show off his Crisscross applesauce. He likes applause and thumbs up every time he does it - that was definitely something new to him from preschool - think they always had little chairs at the orphanage.

Daniel and Maria are playing family this morning

The Lilly's had shared a great doll carriage and baby that really cries and laughs and stuff. This morning Daniel and Maria have been playing family taking care of the baby. Daniel says he's the daddy and is carrying around the baby. Maria is putting the baby to sleep repeatedly (she likes to see her eyes open and close according to laying down or sitting up) and pushing her around in the stroller when she can get her away from Daniel. They're playing sweetly and Momma's enjoying watching them!

Warning on International Long Distance on Cell Phones!

Got my phone bill today from my cell phone. I had $30 worth of calls from a contractor in Tennessee that wanted to just leave me a message while I was in Russia. I had my cell phone on because I had an international text plan and I could receive messages for nearly nothing. I knew I didn't talk to them. Fortunately the phone company reduced the charges to some degree - not completely. So, please let your friends travelling internationally to keep their cell phones OFF most of the time if they don't want a nasty surprise. That contractor that was doing himself a favor calling my cell at his convenience not expecting me to answer did me NO favors!! Aunt Gay Lynn is a GREAT caller to negotiate for a credit! She did great as usual.

The faces of Maria....in Mom's lip gloss

Thought it was a little quiet tonight. Maria sort of passed by on her way back to watching a movie a bit sheepishly. Of course, her big brother immediately brought her back through to tell on her. I couldn't help but laugh as she smiled at me so proudly- next time she'll get the chair! Kenna, I think she'll be ready t o play hair with you next week!

Momma THOUGHT she had it all together.

Tuesday was a horrendous day - we had injuries, spilled dinner plates, another injury Wednesday morning (Maria's little finger got shut in the bathroom door and I was worried we were heading for our first ER visit). It was not that much fun at all for this new mom.! Wednesday after school things were better. They seemed to be back on track. And, after having them come get in bed with Momma three different times throughout the night and me returning them to their beds, I thought it was great when I actually got up a half hour ahead of them, folded two loads of clothes, unloaded the dishwasher, had the oatmeal cooking - I was feeling pretty good about myself. Then, when Daniel got up and I had him dressed for school before breakfast I thought I had it really good. Finally Maria got up and headed for breakfast. About that time - right when I'm feeling so TOGETHER and on top of things - a sheriff's deputy came to the door. I asked him what he needed, but I knew before I answered the door - Daniel had somehow found time to squeeze in his 3rd call to 911 (Maria's hopefully not trying to catch up with her having only done it once!). Momma went and unplugged the offending phone and got knocked back down a notch or two. We're working on training Daniel not to play with buttons and plugs. Obviously, we still have a ways to go!

Pictures

Daniel got a Tech hat today, so I had to post pictures. Here are a few yogurt drink pictures from tonight.

Let me brag

My children wake up very early and for the most part quite happy - so long as food is on the way soon - be it 4 AM or whatever time they wake up. Their favorite breakfast of late is yogurt and dry fruit loops (they don't like milk on them at all probably because they had them without milk at school for snack). So, that was our breakfast this morning. Daniel and Maria each like to have special time with Momma getting dressed, so we work on that happening. Yes, it can be a risky venture with the other one having somewhat free reign of the rest of the house without Momma's attention for a few minutes (i.e. Momma's makeup ends up in the sink, etc.). This morning I got a special treat while I was getting Maria ready to go. Daniel cleaned up the entire table - dumped out the remaining fruit loops in the trash, put the bowls in the dishwasher nicely, and wiped the table. Was Momma ever proud!! Daniel definitely likes order.

A morning Pledge of Allegiance session with my two fine flag holders and they were ready to be off to school. Daniel repeated the whole pledge again this morning. It won't be long before he's joining in with the rest of the class at school and Momma will so proud. And, I can't wait to see Maria do all of the motions with her class on Friday. They're doing so great!

Momma Back at Work

3 weeks ago I'd not guessed we'd be here today, but thanks to Broadmoor Baptist Early Learning Center, both children are doing great and were able to go the entire day. I saw evidence on the way home and at home of just how great they're doing tonight. Yes, I was sad to leave them there knowing that they didn't really "need" me to be home with them and they probably need to be there learning English with their friends than they need to be at home with Momma. Yes, they still need that love and attention - and I hope ALWAYS will, but they really need to learn English and be on a schedule to really function in America.

Here's what let me know that they're enjoying their school:

1) I put in their music CD from school and got TONS of hand motions. It is such a shame that I had to drive home and couldn't just stop and watch. I'm working on the eyes in the back of the head mother thing more every day.

2) Momma didn't quite get supper on the table before we had to go get the American flags out. They like to practice being the Flag Helper for school. I asked if they'd gotten to hold the flag at school and they said DA - we're still working on the "yes".

3) After dinner we practiced the pledge with them holding the flags and them repeating the pledge the entire way - a first.

They're happily chatting away and squirting each other clean in the bathtub (you thought the ducks were just to float in the tub?) while Momma blogs about how precious they are. They are definitely that! I just hate that they have to go to bed in a couple of hours. Weekends are truly going to be special times - the nights are awfully short. I can tell already. Of course, we have time in the morning when they keep getting up at 4 AM!

A good weekend

We've had a good and low key weekend. Aunt Gay Lynn was out of town, so we "babysat" Reagan for her - or, as I know Gay Lynn wonders, do you babysit for your cousin and dog niece? Well, they did enjoy it even if she did escape a couple of times. Of course, her food is thoroughly washed in her drinking water before they carefully place it on the concrete for her. The funniest thing was when they had put her water in the fridge outside and retrieved it after we'd played - pronouncing it "colodna" cold when Daniel took it out and gave to her. They'd never even had cold water before 3 weeks ago, so guess they want Reagan to live the high life like them.

We read some books, played in their closet, and ate raisins all day.....just regular stuff. They seem to spitting out a little more English all of the time, but as long as they can chat with each other (and they do chat continuously) they really don't have to speak that much to Momma. We'll see how soon they start saying more in English. They definitely have school bus down, and much to my surprise, Daniel shouted "school buses" when he saw a group of them at a school on Friday afternoon.

Sounds like we have happy waking up from nap sounds, so I'd better run!

What exactly happens when you OD on raisins?

We went to the grocery store to buy the stuff to make cupcakes this morning. They saw some chocolate ones in the store and we bought them, so we may wait until after naptime to make any. They didn't really like them - ok, they didn't like the chocolate ones at all....although they're definitely part of the family - they ate nothing but the icing. But, they quickly noticed the raisins that Momma also bought - and went after those. And, I made the mistake of leaving the whole bag of little boxes of raisins on the counter. 30 minutes later there are no raisins left in the bag. Hmmmmmmm....hopefully they're not too much of a shock to their system.

They did great at the store this morning. Maria sat in the top area - designed for sitting. Daniel sat in the buggy and assisted with loading and unloading everything with everything he had. That boy LOVES to help his momma - and if it is something that has order to it all the better. They sounded like the happiest little children in the world - not sure what it was about, but I must've heard Babooshka 30 times in the few minutes we were in there. One Albertson's employee finally admitted to following us around to enjoy the happy children. Can't say they were quiet, but they totally sounded like they were enjoying shopping.

Momma woke up with Daniel at 11:30 last night and hasn't been to sleep since. Daniel came and slept in my bed at 11:30 then again about 2:30 (I'd carried him back to his bed). By 4, Maria was up - and by 4:15 Daniel had again joined the fun. We got to play in their closet, bake sweet potatoes and eat them, and watch a Veggie Tales movie this morning. I'm looking forward to nap time!! And, we probably need some training in the finer points of college football as well - and Go Tech!

A few pictures from yesterday

PawPaw came to put up some fence - the last of the Gustav damages. Naturally, Daniel and Maria had to try on his big rubber boots. They love their PawPaw. The pink candy Maria is eating is pop rocks which she loved! This is leftovers from Halloween - they're enjoying going to get a bit every day out of their bags. The bottom one is them on their horse.

Can't wait to go pick Daniel and Maria up from school today - they're getting their pictures taken with Mr. and Mrs. Clause. We'll see how they do. They celebrate Christmas in January, but in preparation for this morning I showed them Santa's picture and they were quite excited.

Babooshka's Gone Home....How Wild Can it now get?

Daniel and Maria area ALWAYS excited when they hear PawPaw is coming....today was no exception. He was here and took Momma out. Within 5 minutes of them leaving, we had wild running, Daniel answering the telephone when Aunt Gay Lynn called, then Daniel subsequently dialing 911 himself. This time we got a visit from our friendly neighborhood deputy. She came in to see them everything (sure it was noted that the same thing had happened last week already. Yes, we're way wilder than normal. Next, we completely stretched out a slinky - never to return to anything near its normal length! Aunt Gay Lynn is supposed to be babysitting for Momma to go to her first Mother of Preschoolers (MOPS) meeting. Do I dare? Thinking....thinking.....thinking.

Child Prodigy on Keys and Locks

Maria called 911. Not to be outdone in the first couple of weeks home, Daniel set off the house alarm - getting the key off of the key hanger (high, but not high enough) - mind you the right key and unbolted the deadbolt and of course set off the alarm (Momma is so bright to keep it on, huh?!)

Today was another good day - started off at the doctor where he proclaimed them healthy and said come back in 6 months. That's not bad for two little children who've spent a lot of years in a Russian orphanage. 5 shots between the two of 'em, but they're done for quite some time so I guess all is well. In that visit we did find out that Daniel hasn't gained or lost an ounce, but our big eater, Maria, has gained 3 pounds already. She's trying her best to catch up in height with Daniel - they continue to compare height so we marked their height on a door frame to keep up with their progress.

They went to school all morning by themselves and I think they're liking school. Daniel's teacher said he likes to write, and Maria's teacher reported that she's starting to call the other children by name. We're definitely hearing a lot more English around the home front. And, what's really cute is the frequency with which we hear "America" - they're hearing it at school a lot and I think it reinforces their enjoyment for their new country. Practicing being the flagholder for school last night, you could tell their proud of their flag already.

Daniel's class had a turkey feather decorating project (ok, paper feather to be decorated as you please), so after dinner we got out the glue, styrofoam fun stuff, etc. and we're mission accomplished - having had a great time.

Here's hoping its another good night of going to bed.

Keep making progress

Today we went back to school. We'd been hoping that Daniel would be able to stay for the morning by himself, but that is not to be. He definitely likes having his mother or grandmother there to observe all he is learning at school. He learned to write the letter "P" and started saying "yes". The other children in his class were very excited he was speaking English now. They served pancakes as the snack and he didn't eat them at all....definitely have to work on the finer points of eating American style!

Maria continued to do well on her own at school - without anybody observing the sweet smiles. Every time I'd see her teacher I'd think there was a problem, but she'd say "no. She's doing GREAT!"

Grandma's been spending the night away getting ready to get back to her real life hopefully by the end of the week. Things are looking good if we'd just get the school situation going better for Daniel.

This morning Daniel and Maria learned what "hot" is - on the stove with some blistered fingers from a recently turned off burner. They'd been saying "hot hot hot", but I don't think they'd seen a kitchen before mine, so really didn't have a concept of cooking. Fortunately the blisters were minor and I think they understand "hot" now really. Maria's new word for the day is "pasta" - definitely likes that in her soup, but I sort of think she's speaking English because they never knew it in Russia. She is definitely a fan. Tonight they practiced their "helping at home" lesson in Sunday School by helping Momma make mashed potatoes and kool-aid (Maria). It was really funny having Maria think the Kool-Aid would be hot and then listening to her explain to Daniel that she'd made it! They really enjoyed the manual mashed potatoe process - mashing most of the potatoes themselves with the Pampered Chef masher (good product - thought I'd have to get out a mixer or something to do it).

Tonight it was fun hearing them explain to their Aunt Elena what all was going on. I'd ask her to explain Thanksgiving since they're studying it in school. Aunt Elena seems to think it sounds like they're doing good, but my favorite thing she said was that they didn't come to America on a boat like the pilgrim's - they came on a plane. Momma and I had a good laugh at the idea of bring these two over on a slow boat from Europe - we'd have definitely had considerable more gray or perhaps less hair - it was quite a two day journey, but I'll be listening to see how long it took the original crew on that boat at their preschool tomorrow - I definitely relate much better this Thanksgiving!

A regular Sunday

We had a plain old regular Sunday sort of. We went to church - Sunday School started out wild until Momma realized that they do not both need to be in the same class. Maria did great in a class by herself. Daniel did great by himself, but I think it sure made it nice that one of Momma's friends children (C) came in at the same time we came back in and took a special interest in him doing well. That was great! So, we have our plan for next week and beyond. Daniel absolutely loves the music - the only part of church we stayed for. Bro. Byron definitely has a future member of the band. We sat at the back to leave after the music, but the drawback on that was certainly having someone think they could stand in front of Daniel. Momma had to hold him the rest of the time with him keeping the beat!

After lunch and a nap, we had some teacher friends come over and play. One of them had her 3 year old in tow - and he came and whispered to his mom that they didn't speak English - after they'd been playing at least an hour! They play GREAT outside - get a lot wilder inside, so as long as the days are as nice as they are we are trying to entertain outside. We definitely enjoyed Ms. G, Mrs. K's and J's visit. Daniel had another new hobby emerge....think he took as many pictures on Miss G's camera as she did! No, my children are definitely getting less shy all of the time - and the time for warming up to new friends is getting smaller.

Oh.....forgot to mention that the long trip to church is definitely long enough to get car sick. Momma's put a bucket between the car seats - and hoping to pick up some ginger tablets which I hear may help get rid of the issue for a long time.

Babooshka spent last night and will tonight with PawPaw at a hotel. Things have gone great, so I'm not expecting that we'll need Babooshka the whole month we expected she'd stay. I know PawPaw (Dyadooshka) will be happy for that - perhaps she'll head for home at the end of this week. Have I said lately what a huge blessing my mother has been through this whole process? I'm independent, but there'd be NO WAY I could've done this without her - or I doubt I'd have hair left if I had! I'm so thankful to my dad for sharing her for a while as well. Now, we'll be glad to let them start just enjoying their grandchildren - visiting the farm, going on tractor and 4 wheeler rides and coming up with whatever new creative play Babooshka will come up with when all 5 grandchildren are around the farm!

Great Idea, Babooshka.....Car Wash!

My mom thought washing my car would be a great idea....noticed she was inside and away from the action most of the time. Good idea for her. They loved it of course.....not sure how clean the car got, but I must've filled up the soap/water bucket 20 times. They washed the driveway. Sprayed down Momma. Dried the driveway with a towel, then sat down in there. Of course, all of this had to be followed by a midday bath for them. It was definitely a win-win activity. Its a good thing Daniel and Maria got adopted by a southern family because I'm not sure they'd function so well with the fond affection for water in Michigan or something. Yes....there are pictures below.

Saturday has been fun.....Momma has learned lessons. They woke up at 11:30 pm and finally again at 4 AM! Not so much fun, but we watched some soothing TV - Russian and classical music w/ Sabaka (dog) video mostly until a decent hour. And, what child wouldn't love Saturday morning pancakes? Well, Maria liked them, but Daniel doesn't think so much of pancakes.....oh well....guessing they'll acquire a taste for the good stuff.

Momma learned a lesson on the grocery store plan. We left the house, got two blocks then had to return for the bathroom. Got back in the car, then had to return because Daniel just flat out wasn't ready to go (remember that carsick thing?) So, Daniel and Babooshka went home and Momma and Maria went to Wal-Mart. I had a well behaved little girl happy as she could be on her first trip to the grocery store. She had quite the input on adding strawberries and which juice was added to the cart. We were near Aunt Gay Lynn's, so we went to visit Reagan (no, Aunt Gay Lynn wasn't there so we only visited the dog - and brought her home to play some more....concessions of motherhood for a girl that LOVES dogs - and probably a toy that she doesn't have to speak English to!).

So, obviously Saturday's are fun at home! Enjoy some pics.

National Adoption Month

Didn't realize it until reading a friend's blog (imagine that after only two weeks at home I finally get to start catching up!), but November is national adoption month. What a blessing it is to see my two little adopted children play in the bathroom clearly loving on each other and feeling the love of their new home. Sure would encourage anyone to bring home a blessing or two like I did - from the US or abroad anywhere.

Tonight over dinner, Momma and I were discussing the week and I don't think it can be counted as anything but a solid week of great progress in every area (we even get to sleep a little more). We've played with new friends, learned how to watch a whole movie instead of changing the VCR tape every 30 seconds (they liked Snow White - even in English).

I'm learning so many spirtual lessons as a new mom already - the whole picture of adoption is exactly how I am to God - adopted in and much beloved and inseparable from His love. I love these two and can't wait to watch their growth each day!

Great day at School

Maria had a GREAT day at school - mostly on her own. I came back to pick her up on the playground and she had the bubble machine and didn't even notice me for a long time. Then when she did I asked her if she was ready to go home and she was definitely not ready to go. Then, after playground time, they were serving lunch and it was all I could do to get her to leave. You don't separate that girl from her food!

Babooshka was with Daniel again at preschool and he did fine. He seems to be getting more comfortable. They both enjoy the snacks they have - guess we'll have to add cinnamon toast, apple muffins, and fruit loops to our repertoire at home.

Wonder what they've been told!

Tonight at dinner we had grits and eggs and milk. We got a special treat after every bite - Daniel and Maria would go and compare sizes to see how tall they were compared to each other. I couldn't tell if the eggs or the milk were the trigger - must've done it 20 times at dinner. Babooshka and I just laughed!

Now, Momma is getting smart. I have two happy children in the bathtub and Momma is sitting in the separate sink area with the laptop on their stepstool - safely blocked by the wall to keep it dry. The laptop has already survived a fall from the refrigerator with only minor damage...and some questionable files. Now, we're just leaving it low and hopefully in a dry place. We like to wash anything from the pompoms (they were Tennessee colors anyway) to the tennis shoes to the hairbrush to whatever. Momma's thinking Parish Water will definitely be getting more revenue from Momma with these children here! They love the product!

My "Sick" Boy

Here are a few pictures of my "sick" boy. We came home and he dusted, baked chocolate chip cookies, and did the elliptical trainer. I guess a morning with his momma to himself wasn't such a bad thing. A call to Aunt Elena after having a couple of bananas disappear from the counter confirmed that he gets sick when Momma "hits rocks in the road" and he feels fine. It sure is nice to have Aunt Elena a phone call away for a little Russian assistance with communication! And, they enjoy visiting with her! Here are some pictures of the morning.....its good to see the exercise machine get some exercise

Best made plans...

.....yes.....I know already they don't work out. Today was the bike-a-thon for St. Jude's at Daniel and Maria's school. We were loaded up and set to go....were on our way....and Daniel decided to get car sick or maybe just sick. At any rate, we stopped and checked out our friend's at Advantage Personnel's bathroom (sorry the Freeman's weren't there!) and found a way for Maria to stay w/ Babooshka. Daniel is on the couch watching cartoons after getting sick on the way home too - its not totally a good sign when you fall asleep for the ride home (Momma figured you couldn't get car sick that way - wrong). Daniel was so relieved to get home! We got an excited DOME when we pulled in the driveway.

Momma is failing - she forgot to send the camera with Babooshka of the Bike-a thon so hopefully the school will take some we can scan and post later. We love St. Jude because they've helped Carson so much.....next time for Daniel I guess!

A few more interesting tidbits:
1) There is a great introductory Russian video on Cox "on Demand" in the free area - Daniel and Maria enjoy it. It under the kids and bilingual babies - maybe 15 minutes of good words, numbers, and entertaining.

2) Daniel and Maria are definitely musicians to be - they love classical music - perhaps because it doesn't have words, but clearly they enjoy music. Maria definitely was ready to go down the hall for music again at preschool and I caught Daniel directing the orchestra this morning (his mom has always loved to do that, too!).

3) Kupatza remains their very favorite activity - that's bathing to you and me. If I want them out of their clothes and in the bathtub I only have to go turn on the water and in 3 milliseconds they'll be there in no time. We have gone from two baths to 1 a day though. Do you think they might like the pool next spring/summer? We've got to get those lessons going!

Fun Times!

We've had a great couple of days. Yesterday, Daniel and Maria went to preschool for the first time - just for an hour, but I'd have to call it a success. Today they went back and Daniel is all set to make it a half day tomorrow - he did great. Maria loved her corn on the cobb....albeit cut off for her.

Daniel and I went grocery shopping this afternoon. He was quite the helper and very proud of being able to help put things away, test the bananas, and other such benefits of being the shopper's helper (besides, he gets to skip the nap that way!).

This afternoon and last night, Daniel and Maria have had plenty of guests to come play with them. Tonight they went to sleep in 15 minutes without a fuss at all, so I'm not sure we don't need to have friends over every afternoon/evening......we'll see.

Some pictures from the weekend

Mom's computer time is down!

We'll see how often we get to post updates, but Momma's computer time is noticeably down! Our favorite room is the playroom closet - so glad we decided to paint it like the playroom.....who needs a playroom. These children enjoy playing together!



We're trying to hold to a schedule which seems to help and they're picking up English very fast - understanding it and the words are coming. I still get "da" for yes, but its generally "no" if they don't want something. They're still saying repeatedly that they don't want to go back to the Deskey Dom. Sure would love to be able to communicate to them that I love them forever, forever, forever and there's no way they're ever going back - or to any place like it.

I'll owe y'all a bunch of pictures, but I never quite seem to have the camera at the computer when I find five seconds to blog.

Halloween was fun at Aunt Gay Lynn's - although I do believe the practicing "trick or treat" at our back door was the most fun. They practiced three times and Babooshka put a dum dum in their bag each time.....somehow she didn't do time #4 to 10! But, they have bags full of candy from trick or treating and then going to the Treats, etc. at Jefferson Baptist Church. It was fun letting them meet people that have prayed, blessed, and encouraged us along the way!

They're loving the swings at a nearby park - and we checked out the local elementary school playground which was super fun. Not sure if they'll attend there or not - playground passes the test at least.

They're loving their bikes - can ride all the way around the block and even stop (as trained by Babooshka) to wait for Momma at each driveway. Training IS occurring, but we have a long way.....who knew there were so many rules in America....seatbelts, no turning on the TV, go to bed when you're supposed to, sit down and eat when everyone else does, stay seated in the bathtub (that's hard for an hour that they like to stay in there!). We've come a long way in a week and they're such a blessing. I'm starting to get sweet kisses from both - and those were slow to arrive for Miss Maria!

Dyadooshka came and installed a fence these last two days to separate the pool from the back yard. That's going to make it nice. The patio has one that really makes a great outdoor play room, then the swingset and seesaw have another fence. We've still got to complete permanent Gustav fence repairs on the side, but we're getting home safer for them - and much more manageable for momma! I'm so grateful for the support of my family.....hate to agree with Hillary on ANYTHING, but it has taken a family (and a big part of a village) anyway to welcome Daniel and Maria home!