Spring and Early Summer In Pictures

Is it even possible to 'catch up' when you are this far behind?  I often think of posting.  It is a way for me to vent and journal, but most days (and nights) there just is not the time to do so.  But, tonight, the kids are mostly sleeping, the dishes are mostly done, and the laundry is going strong.  So, instead of doing more of the 'jobs' I need to be doing, I'm going to play catch up for a moment, with pictures.  

This spring we:

 went to visit my sister.  While she was at work, we took Huz to see the Red Rock Park that we love.  We ran the kids hard and they slept good that night:)

 One

 They climbed everything.

 Three, Huz, BoyTwo, Two, Four, BoyOne, One

 My shadow.  That's all I have to prove that I was there.

 hahahaha.  Not the best picture of everyone!  My awesome sister took the kids swimming so I could watch Huz play in a tennis tournament without having to worry about potty breaks and keeping them quiet.

 My sister introduced us to pickle ball.

 It was super fun.  We froze.

 With my sis.  Minus BoyTwo.  

This is what the kids do in their free time: 

 Four giving herself a pedicure

 Painting their nails and each others.  Great team work.

 After they have painted all their nails and the neighbors, they move on to the dog's nails.

Let's not forget about Easter:

 We do something special every day for a week before Easter.  This is us acting out Jesus' Triumphal Entry.  Please notice the little colored pieces of paper hanging on the wall to the left of the door.  We hang one for each day of that Easter week and on the specific day add a picture and scripture and description of what happened on that day according to the Bible.  Yeah.  I just took those down a few weeks ago (as in during the month of June).  That is how awesome I am.

 We added a new element to decorating eggs this year.  Not only did we dye them, we painted them, too.  I think a new tradition was born.

 Our Easter Bunny comes on Saturday and this year, he really hooked the kids up.  Usually he leaves some candy in their basket and maybe a basketball for them to share or something along those lines.  This year he went all out and sent them on a scavenger hunt that ended on the back deck where kayaks and a pickle ball set were waiting.  The above picture is of them finding and reading a new clue.

 There were six clues so that each child had a turn to 'lead' the others to find the next clue.   Bunny is smart.  This eliminated a lot of potential problems (big kids figuring everything out before littles, one person dominating the whole hunt, '(s)he read it last time now it's my turn', etc.)

 Kayak number one

 Kayak number two.  The pickle ball set is in the background.

 Later that morning we hosted a neighborhood egg hunt and 'light' breakfast.  It was fun.

 More of the kayak

 More of the other kayak

 I figured out the 'perfect' paska recipe for the boys.  BoyOne got to help me prepare it so that he can carry on this tradition for his own family someday.

 Oooh.  Aaaah.  

More of what we do in our free time:

(notice the kids are all in their pajamas as this was a school night and this is Huz's idea of getting them ready for bed)

 Dodge ball on the tramp.  Huz shows no mercy.  It's one of their favorite things to do with their dad.

 'Rolling Pin'  This is probably their number one favorite thing to do with Huz.  He rolls around on the trampoline and they try to jump over him and not get smashed.  It really is a miracle that there have not been any serious injuries to Huz or the kids.

In May:

 My nephew found out where he would be serving his mission.  This was a super cool night that we got to be a part of.  Young men and young women in our church can choose to serve a 2 year (boys) or 18 month (girls) mission where they teach people about Jesus Christ and give a lot of service when they graduate from high school.  They apply to be a missionary through our church and then get a letter in the mail telling them where they get to go.  We all were invited to watch him open his letter and to hear him announce where he would be serving.  It's pretty exciting!  My sister-in-law had a big world map set out and we each got to guess where he would be going.  It was a fun night.

 Pinewood derby.  He lost.  Bigtime.  That's what happens when you paint your wheels (at least he did it himself!) and duct tape weights on at the very last minute because the weight requirement is actually a requirement and not a suggestion as Huz thought.  BoyTwo led the Pledge of Allegiance that night and did a fantastic job.

 There was a kindergarten end of year program,

(Four is on the middle row, on your right)

 last home baseball game,

 last dance competition,

(Sorry, bad pic.  She's not dancing next year.  She plans to go back the following year, but who knows.  It may really be the last comp.  Sad.)

 Four's kindergarten field trip to the fire station, park and library,

(when BoyTwo did this he turned the hose on everyone.  Shocking, I know)

 Two's Third Grade patriotic program,

 she did a great job, by the way,

 a dance recital for the three younger girls,

(look at that heel stretch!)

 (Four for her Miss Hannigan/Annie/It's a Hard Knock-or NOT as all the little girls thought-Life dance)

 (Three for her 'Trouble' by Tay.lor Swift dance where they acted out Red Riding Hood.  Three was grandmother.  It was darling)

 (Two with her best friend for their dance Carousel-I think that was what it was called.  They're clowns)

 BoyTwo had a birthday,

 Four had a birthday and a birthday party,

 One graduated from 6th grade, and then there was the most wonderful

 last day of school (holy freaking FINALLY!!!).  The teachers all lined up to wave good-bye to the students.  One teacher did cartwheels all the way down the side walk.  It's a long side walk.  I think she may have been as happy as I was:)

Whoever said that Christmas was the most wonderful time of the year clearly did not have six kids in school, five at the local elementary, four with learning disabilities, one a budding pyromaniac.  I am here to tell you that SUMMER is the most wonderful time of the year, hands down.  Bless you warm weather and sunshine for saving my life.  So far this summer, we have:

 been boating with friends, 

 kayaked a lot,

(don't panic, I make them wear life jackets.  In this pic they are headed back to shore to get them after taking off w/o)

 danced on the beach,

 went to Boise for my brother's wedding and visited with my best childhood friend and her kids,

 (this is my big little bro and his super awesome wife and all of us, including BoyOne with what he believes is his 'cool' look, until he sees it and is upset but we cannot talk him into not looking constipated in the moment.  sigh.)

and of course, hiked a lot.

(this is the waterfall hike with my friend Jodi and her kids)

This only takes us to the middle of June.  I hope that you're all enjoying summer.  More to come as soon as I upload my camera.  

April First

BoyOne came home yesterday, all sorts of excited.

"Mom.  Today I tell Miss MathTeacher she need go to office for Ruby (secretary) need her big important.  And she leave class and then come back ten minutes and she big mad."

He's giggling like a little girl as he tells me this.  My mind is trying to process what he is saying to me and is pretttttttttty slow.

me: "Why was she mad?"

and  then as I realized what he'd done, 

me: "The secretary didn't really need her?  You told her to go to the office and tricked her?!"

him, squealing: "Yes!!"

me, thinking oh my gosh I better check my email: "So, what did she say to you when she came back to the classroom?"

him: "She say 'BoyOne!  Ruby no ask me to go to office!'"

then he erupts in a fit of giggles and can barely get out this next part:

"and I say APRIL FIRST!!"

And then we all lost it.  I understood why I didn't get an email from his teacher.  How can you not hysterically laugh when some kid from Ukraine April Fools' his teacher and then says 'April First'?!

****************

Yesterday, just to prove to myself that I can be the fun parent sometimes, I April fooled my kids.  

Every single year I forget about April Fools' Day until the actual day.  One of these years I'm going to remember and when I do it's going to be fantastic.  As in past years, I had forgotten until after the kids had already gone to school.   Miraculously, however, my brain pulled through for me and I devised a plan.  Huz and I were taking the kids to see a movie but hadn't yet told them.  When I picked up the kids from school, I told them we had a church meeting to go to in town at 6:00.  BoyOne offered a prayer for us before we left, Three brought her scriptures with her and even though we pulled up to the movie theater to unload,  all six children got out of the car with their arms folded.  :)

In the end they were pretty happy they had been fooled, and I was pretty pleased with myself that although lame, I had managed to pull it off.  

Happy April First to you all!

Fun Weekend

...and Monday.  It was a fun day, too.

I have some GREAT pictures, but I either don't have or can't find a USB cord for my camera.  It's on the never ending list of things to do.  But I promise, as soon as I find it, I'll put them up.  

Saturday was fabulous.  We started the day by cleaning the house and then cleaning the church.  BoyOne threw a tantrum there because he had made plans to 'play' with one of his friends and was quite upset that he wouldn't be able to do that.  This is actually something that we are having a hard time with lately.  He will often make plans or invite people over without asking and it really, really bugs.  Generally we are pretty easy going and already have a houseful, so what's a few more, but he is way too comfortable assuming things.  Even though that was an annoyance early in the day, he shaped up pretty quick (probably because he had a crazed mother chasing him down the hall telling him he had better drop his crappy attitude), apologized and the rest of the day really was great.  Huz and the kids have found a rope swing at the lake and we think we're just about the only ones who know about it.  We had some of our friends come up Saturday afternoon and we took them to our little spot.  The kids and dads had a great time flying off the swing and into the cold lake.  The moms had a great time watching this craziness and documenting it with the camera.  

These are friends who we know through hosting and adoption.  I actually was able to be in Ukraine with the mom and she basically saved my life (my heart) by letting me tag along with her as she took her boys to Kyiv and had their medicals and visas done.  I even got to stay with them, train with them and go to the airport with them.  We were on different flights, but she got me there.  This was all after I had found out BoyTwo had a second birth certificate and we weren't going to be able to adopt him.  Still can't believe all that happened.  Go back to July 2011 for that fun.  Anyhow, love their family.

Sunday was Father's Day and we had a nice day.  BoyOne had a little bit of a tantrum and was a total turd to Huz, which really ticked me off.  Huz is probably the least confrontational person I know and he hardly ever gets mad or makes any of the kids do anything (anybody else married to a Disney parent?:)), so I felt that BoyOne was absolutely, positively, completely out of line.  It was over the stupidest thing, too.  Anyhow, aside from that, the day ended well and we had dinner with Huz's family at his parents' home.

Monday we went back to the lake.  I'm pretty sure that my kids think that I am incapable of doing anything fun or remotely active, given the comments they make:

'Mom, you're coming with us?  Can you even hike?' (when leaving to go on a family hike)

'Mom, you know how to run?!' (when I had to chase BoyTwo, many times, down the street barefoot and robed as he tried to make some sort of escape)

'What?!  You can ride a bike?!'  (when I was showing the boys how to ride)

'Mom, I'll teach you how to ski.'  (obviously forgetting that I taught every one of them how to ski)

'Mom, is it safe for you to jump on the tramp?'  (seriously?!  This mama can still do a back flip with a twist.  Come on kids!)

'Mom, do you know how to swim?' (I don't like to get in the cold water.  Yes, I'm a wuss.  However, I can swim and I am always prepared to go in after someone if it becomes necessary which it usually does.  At least in the past years.  Saturday and Monday this was not the case.  It was nice to stay dry and warm)

'Mom, have fun making dinner and cleaning while we're _________.'  (fill in the blank with just about anything, as if I'm going to send them off to have fun and stay behind to play housekeeper/maid)

Anyhow, I decided to shock the crap out of the boys (and the girls) by interrupting their game of keep away by tackling BoyOne in the lake and getting the ball from him.  Unfortunately I am slowing down because although he was super shocked (as were his friends) that I could take down my son, swim, play ball, run and get in the cold water with my clothes on (had my suit on underneath but didn't have time to change because that would've been a dead give away), he quickly recovered and pulled me back down.  I surprised him again by grabbing him by his swimming trunks and swinging him around and back down into the water.  He thought it was hilarious and has recounted the story many times in the past 24 hours.

Other events worth mentioning are:

*BoyOne was laying down in the shallow water after losing the ball and his friend ran after Huz, who now had the ball.  Friend didn't see BoyOne and literally ran on top of him, face and all, pushing his face down into the murky sandy water.  As BoyOne says, 'and I my nose big sand!'  (filled his face with sand)  It was sooo funny to watch, glad he didn't get hurt.

*Saturday Four was on the swing to swing, not bail into the lake and at the last second did bail, only she was not over the water but the sand:(  She got hurt and was pretty sad but seems to be fine now.

*Monday Three lost her grip on the rope swing while swinging and fell onto the sand.  While originally we thought she may have twisted her ankle, she says it feels much better today.

*BoyTwo attended a tumbling class today.  Three and Two are already taking a class at this same time so I decided to see if we could target some of his energy/wear him out.  He did alright.  I only had to walk onto the floor once to reprimand him for sassing his coach, but after that the whole thing where you point to your eyes and then to them totally worked and he (mostly) behaved.  And he's in bed asleep now, so it worked, right?!  :)

*One, Two, and Three can all beat BoyTwo when arm wrestling and for some reason he keeps coming back for more.  I, drumroll please, can beat BoyOne (righthanded.  He wins lefty).  Thank you for your applause.

Taste Buds

Huz received a gift card from work and we were able to take the whole family out to dinner. We are so blessed by his employment and the perks he gets and the nice people that he works with and for.

We went to a steak house. BoyOne didn't know what to order (which we were prepared for, decisions are still SOOOO hard for these guys!). We had prepped him beforehand and then at the restaurant, we suggested steak and shrimp. We knew he had never had this before (and the other kids were all eating off the kids menu, and I can't eat red meat, so my meal was pretty simple=cheap) and were excited for him to try it. He's been here for six months and I thought his taste buds were ready for this new adventure.

We were wrong. He gagged and acted as though we were feeding him the fish head broth that he used to eat at the orphanage (that didn't make him gag) haha. It was pretty funny, although I don't know that I would have thought so if I had prepared the meal or paid for it...

I find it so fascinating how their taste buds are so underdeveloped. Even within their own country they hadn't ever eaten basic foods and had no real idea what 'Ukrainian Cuisine' was. It's been fun to watch them broaden their food likes.

I also can't wait to remind BoyOne that he 'big no likes' steak and shrimp should he ever try to eat it again:)

President's Day

I wasn't super thrilled when I realized the kids were all going to be home from school today, (nothing like realizing that at midnight) however it ended up being a lovely day, so it's all good.

Saturday while I was at a dance practice with One, Huz took BoyOne and BoyTwo skiing. Later that night as we were having hot chocolate as a family (even though half of us shouldn't be having it), BoyTwo said something along the lines of he had already had hot chocolate today. Upon further questioning (I had always wanted to be an attorney so I should really enjoy my chance to live my dream through these experiences) we discovered at some point while skiing, BoyTwo had taken himself into the lodge and pulled a fast one on the lady working at the hot chocolate booth.

'I no my mom and dad. I no money. I big, big cold. My hands big ouch. You please me warm so I no freeze?' and he was given free hot chocolate THREE different times.

I was ticked. He seems to have adjusted enough to his new surroundings that he is willing to try to manipulate and lie and pull out all of his old tricks from Ukraine. It makes me a little nervous about how much we still have ahead of us to deal with. I wish he would adjust positively to his new life and quit gorging himself with food because he knows he'll have enough now. Or maybe he could adjust enough to his new life to know that he doesn't have to beat the crap out of anyone he sees for no apparent reason. I know he is adjusting and that it could be a long, long time before he figures any of this out, but that doesn't make me feel any better. By the way, I've tried holding him and cuddling with him when he needs some 'intervention' or 'behavior correction' to try to help him calm down or regress or bond or whatever the crap you want to call it. He does not like to be touched or held. He doesn't freak out or try to get away (well, sort of but not it the RAD sort of way, just in the little kid who wants to be wild sort of way), I can just tell he is waaaayy uncomfortable. And honestly, so am I. I really just want to spank his butt and make him mind for the love of PETE! but I know that this will not help and so I bite my tongue and put on my nice mommy face and my nice mommy voice and pray the whole time that something, anything, will help this kid. BoyOne told me BoyTwo had never been held before. I totally believe him. Sad. The kid really is lucky to be alive. He had to overcome some serious odds to get this far. He likes having his face touched a little, but that's pretty much it. That took time for him to actually like. He is required to hold my hand anytime I'm near him and we are anywhere other than home and he doesn't love that either. I originally thought it was because he thought it was too juvenile, but now I know it's the whole touch thing. siiiiiggggggghhhhhhhh.

Back to the story. What made me the most mad about the whole con artist hot chocolate incident was that as he was telling us this he was laughing about it. Showing us the sad little face he would pull and saying to us the words he would tell this lady in his sad, little, fake voice. And then he laughed about it and in English told us that he lied. And thought it was funny. Can you tell I'm most upset that he finds these things that he does wrong funny?! Yeah. Not cool.

So this weekend he worked a bunch of extra chores and I gave him a beautiful, crisp five dollar bill and then took it away from him. I told him that he had to go to the ski lodge and pay the lady back, which we did tonight. I made him tell her, in his pretty decent English, his name, that he had money, that he lied to her, that he knew what he had done was wrong and that he had worked to earn this money that he was giving her to pay her back. He apologized and was not too happy to be handing over his beautiful 5$. I hope it sunk in for more than three seconds, but I'm not really counting on it. The kicker is that he knows he shouldn't do it, but he can't help it. Literally. Cannot make himself do things differently. Cannot stop being 100% impulsive. Cannot make good decisions. About anything. Of consequence or otherwise.

Skiing today/tonight was fun. The kids all stress me out because they are so bold in the things they try to do. They think it is soooo funny that I freak out so easily. 'Watch this mom!' as they fly full speed ahead and launch their little bodies off of jumps, rails and moguls. They beg me to go on jumps and rails with them ('come on mom, you can do it!' and then as I wipe out they help me up while laughing) and I know that they do this so they can watch me squeal and panic and they think it's so funny. I remember making my mom talk to us when she was half asleep so that we could laugh at the things she said. These guys like to watch me risk my life for laughs. :)

BoyOne is having to memorize the Pledge of Allegiance for school and isn't too happy about it. Not because of what he is memorizing, but because he has to do the work. I printed off a bazillion short stories and questions to help him with comprehension this weekend. Used a ream of paper and almost all my ink. He will be so. happy. when his English teacher whips them out for him every day.