Life As We Know It

This, That, and The Other

2010-10-18T15:29:00.001-07:00

Well I always say I am going to do better with blogging, and we can see that doesn't happen! Life has been busy...

APRIL/MAY:

Easter with the fam!

More family time! My brother and his family came for a visit and we even managed to get a family picture:

Erika's Birthday:

This year is a big year for birthdays in our family; Erika turned 13 (May 15th), I turned 30 (August 12), and Jessica is turning the big 16 (October 22nd)! For Erika's birthday, we held a luau party in our backyard for the first half, and then a PJ party and movie night for the last half. I think it turned out great, and I know the girls had a lot of fun.

We will have to see what Jessica has in store for us as she plans her 16th birthday and more to come on what my birthday plans entailed. :)

Summertime:

Over the extremely hot summer, we tried to do a lot of indoor "stuff" and if we had to do anything outside it definitely had to involve water. We bought this fun little water slide from Costco which seemed to be a hit with the kids!

A Day Out in the Desert!

2010-03-24T14:59:00.000-07:00

This past weekend, we took the quads out riding in the desert with my sister's family. I forgot to get pictures throughout the day, but managed to get a few at the end of the kids, as well as the sunset. The kids were tired and dirty; it was a long, fun day!

Erika with her two cousins, Josie and Nessa:

Kyle always manages to get the dirtiest!

A Little Spring Hiking!

2010-03-23T10:26:00.001-07:00

Arizona this time of year is AWESOME!!! Love the weather, love the desert, love to be outdoors. A couple weekends ago, I took the girls hiking fairly close to our house. We found the perfect little hiking spot, with great trails and great views! I have a feeling this is going to be a weekend activity all Spring long, until our weather gets blazin' hot. :)

Six

2010-03-22T14:27:00.000-07:00

I can't believe my little guy is six. For his birthday, we had a pirate themed party, and invited a few of his friends over to help celebrate. It turned out to be a sunny day, just perfect for outside activities. We rented a bouncer/slide combo, and it turned out to be the greatest thing in the world. It entertained the kids ALL day long! I didn't have to plan any games, or extra activities...except the pirate ship pinata which I knew Kyle would love, as he could take a bat an hit the heck out of it and not get in trouble. :)

Here are a few pics from his special day!

Good Times

2010-03-02T13:27:00.000-08:00

(Picking Citrus at Grandma & Grandpa Rae's house)

Christmas

2009-12-30T18:49:00.001-08:00

On our way up to Utah, we stopped in Vegas for a couple days. We spent quite a bit of time at Treasure Islands' Fashion Show mall. LOVE this place, and Ken was so thrilled to spend time shopping with us! :) We got some last minute Christmas shopping done, and also took the girls into Dillard's to get makeovers. As fun as shopping is, we were exhausted when we were done! A nap was definitely in order which is exactly what we did. Later on we walked down the strip, and hit a few hotels/casinos as well as the M&M factory; four floors of chocolate in cute containers! We took Jessica and Erika over to New York, New York to ride the roller coaster. Ken and I were all-to-happy to pass on riding, especially at $15 a ticket! So we hung out with Kyle while the girls did their thing. Vegas was fun, but we were ready to move on to Utah for the rest of our Christmas fun.

Below are a few of the fun things we did while in Utah:

The Polar Express (Heber, UT)

Made Christmas trees out of cookies!

Waited patiently to open presents from the cousin gift exchange

Ready-Set-Go!

Enjoyed opening presents from Santa, Mom/Dad, and Nana/Papa

Hope everyone had a Merry Christmas!

How could I forget?

2009-12-30T13:25:00.001-08:00

How could I forget to post the most important thing of all! I know my mom will call me just as soon as she sees this, so she can give me an earful about posting pictures and videos of her on my blog. However, I could not resist and will gladly take that phone call! My Dad was unable to go with us to Utah, so we had to make sure my mom was having a good time. I think she did :)

Love ya, Mom!

Winter Wonderland!

2009-12-30T12:38:00.001-08:00

(Kyle and his cousin, Carson)

For Christmas, we planned a road trip up to Utah to spend time with my side of the family. My brother (Jason) and his wife (Jill) were awesome enough to let our entire family stay with them...there were close to 30 of us all together, so it was a house full! It was the most perfect time to be up there: the weather cooperated and we finally got a White Christmas which looked like a Winter Wonderland. Here are a few pics to prove it!

As you can see from the following pictures (and the 3 above), we were able to play outside on several occasions with my brother's snowmobiles.The kids had a blast! Jessica and Josie being pulled.
Emma pulling Kyle and Carson.

Erika was definitely hands-on in everything we did. I think she is our little dare-devil! She is not afraid to try anything.

All Kyle was interested in doing was eating the snow!
This definitely was a Winter Wonderland for us desert folks!

Here I go again!

2009-12-29T14:47:00.000-08:00

Well, it has been almost two month's since my last post. I seem to do this quite often! We have been busy preparing for the Holidays, and having a lot of fun doing so. I will post more when I can, but I just wanted to say Happy Holidays (a little late) to everyone! Hope you had a wonderful Christmas, and have a happy and safe New Year's. (I really slacked this year on sending out Christmas cards, so here it is!)

All dressed up!

2009-11-04T10:48:00.000-08:00

This is a rare occasion, having all of us dress up! Ken and I usually do not dress up for Halloween, however Jessica and Erika really wanted us to this year. I am glad we did! It was actually a lot of fun, and makes you feel like a kid again. I would recommend it to anyone! We did the whole trick-or-treating thing in my in-law's neighborhood. My brother's family (Justin) went with us as well, so it was fun for the kids. Jessica actually went off with a group of "guy friends" for a couple hours...I was really surprised as she is usually so shy. Here are a few pics of the night!

Pumpkin Time!

2009-10-28T12:34:00.001-07:00

This year we took the kids and a couple of their cousins to Schnepf farms to enjoy the fall festivities and to pick out their pumpkins. The farm is a lot of fun, but I think definitely overpriced. Next year we may just get our pumpkins from the Wal-mart bins...can't beat pumpkins for under $5 each!

(I think it is time for a new camera, mine is really not working so well!)

We had my family over this past weekend to carve pumpkins and enjoy a yummy Mexican feast! I am hoping this becomes an annual family activity as it is always a lot of fun!

Hope everyone has a Happy Halloween!

Vampire

2009-10-27T18:33:00.000-07:00

Scary Kyle

I couldn't get a good shot of him because he kept moving around, so it is a little cropped. However I thought he really does look creepy! I am almost tempted to change his Halloween costume to a vampire.

Jessica's Birthday

2009-10-26T14:06:00.000-07:00

Jessica turned '15' on October 22nd...yikes, I still can't believe I have a teenage daughter. Last year we didn't do much for her birthday since we had only been home a couple weeks with her and Erika. This year, she wanted a party so we invited a few of her friends over. They ate, played games, and sat in the hot tub and told ghost stories until the party ended. Instead of eating the cake, they all shoved it in their faces...crazy girls!

Boating

2009-10-20T08:41:00.000-07:00

Well, I am finally cleaning out my camera and going through my pics so I thought I would post an update on what we have been up to. This summer was HOT and I am so excited that fall is finally here. Fall here is not the prettiest(no fall colors) but the temps are at least in the 80-90's for the most part which is a nice change from the 110-115 temps (not to mention all the restaurants/stores now have pumpkin flavored everything,YUM!).

We got a boat this past May which we thought would be a fun summer activity for the family. That has proven to be true! Jessica, Erika, and Kyle LOVED taking the boat out to various lakes where they could tube, swim, and explore. The girls loved inviting girls in our neighborhood which has helped in making friends and getting over their shyness. Jessica and I both are learning to wake board which has been a blast! A few weeks ago (the first weekend in October) was our last weekend boating for the season because it is now getting "cold". I use the term "cold" lightly, because it is still somewhat hot here, but the water is a little chilly...especially when us girls wake board as we spend most of our time in the water (we constantly fall!). Here are a few pics from our boating trips:

Fall Break

2009-10-19T09:54:00.000-07:00

This last week was fall break for the kids, so we took off a few days and headed up North to camp. We met my sister (Jenny) and her family up there as well, and had a lot of fun! The camp ground was really nice, so I wouldn't say that it was completely roughing it. We did tent camp, but the grounds also had bathrooms and showers which was really quite convenient! It was cold in the evenings, but the temps were in the 80's during the day. It was great to be in the pines and breathe the fresh air which is a nice break from living in a big city. Besides seeing some pretty birds, we only saw crazy little squirrels and a few elk. We even heard the elk calls at night which was really cool, and loud! Both Ken and I were ready to go home to our own bed by the end of the week, but the kids had fun and Erika didn't want to leave! Jessica is a little more "high maintenance" if you will, and so she was also anxious to get home....she pretended to kiss the driveway when we pulled up to our house!

I love this pic! Just Kyle and Daddy hanging out in the creek. Erika and Josie (cousin) turned to pose for the camera! These two are two peas in a pod and best buds! Here is a picture of part of our campsite. You can see Ken playing chess with Josh (Jenny's oldest son) which is what he did most of the time! Jenny has 4 boys, and all of them had fun trying to beat Ken with no avail. He enjoys teaching them though. Also, Erika is french braiding her Uncle Chris's hair...her and Jessica did this a lot to all the boys! Here is Jessica french braiding Josh's hair....he looks like he is in pain, and Jessica couldn't help but laugh. I can attest to the pain; when she french braids, your head feels like it is going to explode! Erika is a little more gentle! The cousin's hanging out in the tree. It is next to impossible to get everyone to smile and look at the camera at the same time, as you can see below. I guess that's what makes them fun! Everyone in line to cross the creek!

And lastly, a funny moment compliments of Erika! She would probably get after me for posting this, but it was the perfect moment caught on video. She was trying to get her cousin, Alex,wet by kicking up water...

If we can get through one year...

2009-10-13T17:49:00.001-07:00

....we can get through forever! This time last year, the girls were coming "home" for the first time. Wow, what a year! Jessica has reminded me several times over the past few weeks that we were coming up on the year mark, and that she could hardly believe it! Ken and I never dreamed of having 3 kids, but this is what we were lead to, and it has all been so worth it. It has been a tough year in many ways, but all our experiences have made us stronger as a family and closer than ever. I know several families that have adopted, mentioned that it takes a good year to work out the kinks, and then the family mold feels like it has always been there. I concur with this...every experience throughout this year has brought us closer with each other and it is really hard to imagine our lives without the kiddos! I love to look at all the photos that we have taken as it is amazing to see the changes in the girls. The picture above is the only picture we had of the girls for the year that we worked on our dossier to adopt them, and I love it! Here is a picture of the girls taken over the last couple months...what a difference!

Trouble

2009-08-12T08:47:00.000-07:00

Does he look like trouble?? I love this boy to pieces, but boy does he have us on our toes already. First day of school, not so good. Second day of school, not so good. He is having a tough time listening and following directions, and yesterday even hit a kid over the head with a book. Okay, so this is kind of funny but, yikes! I have already had phone calls from his teacher both days.

Here's hoping to a GOOD third day of school...

1st day of School...

2009-08-10T12:20:00.000-07:00

...and no tears!! Jessica started High School (9th grade), Erika started 6th, and Kyle started Kindergarten. What a difference today was, compared to when the girls started last October. They are more confident and comfortable, and today was confirmation of that. Jessica jumped right out of the car when I pulled up to the high school and had a big smile on her face. She woke herself up this morning before I did, which is a huge shock. She told me she woke up really excited for the day ahead of her.

Erika is at the same school as last year, so it wasn't much of a change for her. One of her good friends ended up in the same class as her, so I think that helps! And Kyle, well, he has been so use to daycare/preschool this last year that it wasn't any bid deal for him. He was so excited and kept telling me he wanted to go to his "new school" with his cool spider man backpack. He marched right into his classroom, and went straight for his seat (which he remembered from meet the teacher night). I started to walk out of the class, and he yelled for me to give him a hug and a kiss, which I did...then he proceeded to show the girl across from him his backpack and all his goodies inside! No tears, no dragging kids into their classrooms, no pouty faces...all smiles! It was a good day! :)

UPDATE:

Here is what they looked like after their first day of school....a little tired. :)

Playin' in the rain!

2009-07-23T15:42:00.000-07:00

I love Arizona monsoon storms! They are a nice break from the oh-so-hot sun, and the water is much needed. We had our first "real" storm of the season a few nights ago, and Jessica and Erika had a fun time experiencing it! I had to get a few photos as this was a "first" for them.

4th of July Vacation!

2009-07-17T13:00:00.000-07:00

Ken was attending a conference in Orlando the first week of July, so we decided to tag along and spend a few days at Disney World! I am a huge Disney fan, and LOVE Disneyland so this has always been a dream of mine to head to the bigger place. It is beyond huge and consists of maybe five different parks. You cannot just park-hop like you would at Disneyland, you have to take a taxi/shuttle and usually takes about 15 minutes to get from one to another. It was really hot and humid which made the kids a little irritable at times, but I was having a blast and could have kept going! Ken was able to spend the first day with us at Magic Kingdom, and then we were on our own! My friend, Sarah, came with which was a lot of fun!

We had only 3 days of theme parks so we had to pick which ones to visit; we chose Magic Kingdom (basically Disneyland), Hollywood Studios, and Disney's Animal Kingdom. Let me just say that 3 days is not nearly enough time to get everything done! Animal Kingdom was by far my favorite, and I wish I had 3 days to just spend there! Here are a bunch of pics from our vacation.

Magic Kingdom:

We enjoyed many of the classic Disney rides, including Pirates of the Caribbean, Splash Mountain, and Thunder Mountain. This park was missing some of my favorite's that Disneyland has, so while I really enjoyed being there, I can say that Disneyland still holds the top spot for being my favorite.

Hollywood Studios:

This park is comparable to California Adventure. The day we went here, was probably the hottest and most humid day so we didn't stay too long! But it was fun and enjoyable nonetheless. I loved the entrance! You walk down this street that has the old Hollywood buildings which leads to the main courtyard where Mickey's huge magical hat sits!

Animal Kingdom:

This park is really fun! It is basically a very large zoo with some of the most fun rides mixed in as well as all the Disney characters. The African Safari Adventure was by far my favorite. The kids had a blast, and the weather was actually cool this day! This was the only day that it poured rain. The first major down pour we fled to the nearest cover which was this little nook that was basically only tree cover. I stood there with the kids, and they were just laughing at how wet we were getting! It looked like a flood running down at our feet so our shoes were soaked. Jessica said this was the day she would never forget! We toughed it out, and put our poncho's on and went for it!

Little Pool Fun!

2009-07-16T12:55:00.000-07:00

We got Kyle's pool out the other night (around 110 degrees outside), and the girls insisted on getting in with him to cool off. They all fit! Here is a video of them being silly! From the video you can also get an idea of Kyle's energy level....this is everyday for us! ;)

Another successful court hearing!!

2009-07-13T21:41:00.000-07:00

Let me first start off by saying that I REALLY prefer the US court system over Ukraine's. Today was our court hearing to finalize Jessica's adoption. Because of my age difference I was not able to legally adopt Jessica in Ukraine (according to Ukraine law). However because of our unique situation in that we had already adopted Erika's and Jessica's brother, the Ukraine system allowed Ken to fully adopt Jessica with the condition that I would adopt her here in the US. It is now done!

I could tell Jessica was a little nervous, but it was the most laid back court hearing I have ever been to (I have only experienced Ukraine). We were allowed to speak (without first being spoken to), we could sit down while answering their questions. At the very end, the attorney called Kyle up to the stand, and the Judge declared the adoption final. So they gave Kyle the gavel, and told him to hit it on the desk twice and declare the case closed. It was the cutest thing ever! We all had a good laugh, and he did such a good job....hmmm, possible career I think. Then the judge allowed us on the stand to take a picture with him, and stood out of his chair so Jessica could take the big seat! Love this judge!

He knew from reading the home study that Jessica loves art, so he asked her to draw and/or paint something and send it to him. I know that Jessica will do just that! She was already asking on the way home what she could draw for him. With as particular attention to detail that she has, I know it will take her some time to decide but I can't wait to see what she ends up with. I will have to post a picture of the final outcome....she is very creative.

Camp

2009-06-11T15:38:00.000-07:00

Jessica and Erika returned home from our church girl's camp last week and had a blast! One of the leaders informed me the 2nd day in, that Jessica was asking to go home; she was home sick! Well - we kept her there anyway knowing that this was good for her to be there, and she ended up having such a good time.

Originally, I was really worried about how Erika would do. She is our "sensitive" one when it comes to the abandonment issues that you deal with, when adopting. I don't think she wanted to come home from camp...the first thing she said was "that went way too fast, I wanted more days!". This is PROGRESS! We have had a few issues with Erika not wanting us to go anywhere or do anything without her being by our side. She would not want us going on any dates (unless it included her), she would not sleep over at any of her girl friend's slumber parties, etc. Not anymore. I think Jessica is becoming the softy now! We are very happy with how far the girls have come. They really are such awesome kids and we are lucky to have them in our family.

So, I wanted to post pictures that the girls took while they were at camp. This was just the opportunity they needed to boost their self-confidence, and make some great friends!!

A Long, Overdue Update

2009-06-02T10:16:00.000-07:00

No excuses for me being MIA, except that life has happened! I have recently started back up with my graduate program, so for the last few months that has taken up most of my "free time"! Not really sure what "free time" is anymore! We are definitely keeping busy with work, home improvements and projects, school, and spending time with the kids.

Over the past few months, I was often reminded and given subtle hints by friends and family through e-mail or just chatting that my blog needs to be updated. I really hope I can get back in the routine of doing that as well as catching up with everyone else. I decided to start this new blog, as I was a little tired of the old; I needed something new, and my settings were crazy and I couldn't get them to cooperate! So, here we go...

I am happy to report that the kids are doing great. I never had a chance to blog about it before, but we were having a hard time with the girls getting along with Kyle, and vice-versa. I think all they needed was time, and now it is starting to come together nicely! They are fighting and playing like any typical sibling group! I remember a family that I spoke to before adopting Jessica and Erika, told me that it can take a good year to finally feel like you have been a family all along. During that first year each person tries to figure out where their personality belongs, where they fit in, and what role they play in the family. We are still figuring this out, and I am sure we will be for a while, but we have come a long way over the past 8 months.

Kyle at Easter:

I think Kyle was in shock for a while that he was not the only child anymore, while Jessica and Erika were trying to figure out why their 4 year old brother was such a high-strung, active boy that liked to torment! We experienced set backs in Kyle's behavior, however after a few "family council meetings" we are now moving forward in a positive direction. Kyle turned 5 in March, and will be starting Kindergarten in August. He is not a little boy anymore. Sometimes I wish he didn't speak English! He is becoming quite the comical-mouthy little guy! He responds mostly to questions with "what are you talking about?" with attitude! He also likes to tell me, "your crazy, mommy" with a big grin on his face. While mostly I dish it back to him, sometimes I am tempted to say "yes, you make me crazy!". I recently had to take away a few cartoons from his movie collection because they had bad words in it. I have to tell him no when he asks to watch them (spider-man), and I explain to him why. Now he goes around saying to everyone that Mommy says bad words! He is still learning how to put sentences together correctly, as you can see! We love Kyle to pieces, and he is our comical relief most of the time. He has a very busy personality, and LOVES to talk to anybody about anything.

Next to Kyle, Erika is quite the social-bug herself! She is full of life, and is always happy! Well, most of the time anyway! We have learned that she is the most vocal between her and Jessica. She is quick to be the life of the party, however can turn on a dime when something doesn't go her way. We have learned how to deal with this and it is getting a lot better! She is such a sweetheart though, and I just love to watch her with Kyle now. They both get along the best at the moment, and Kyle loves to hang around her. She loves to help mom and dad at any given time, whether it be chores around the house, or helping dad with the yard work. She loves school and church now! Erika has really good friends which I am thankful for!! That is one thing I stressed about in the beginning, but her friends are awesome and are very good examples to her. Erika has had A LOT of dental work done over the past 8 months, but she had a clean bill of health at her semi-annual check up, no cavities!!! I LOVE IT (and so does my bank account)! We had all her front teeth re-faced so now they are smooth and sparkly white! That really boost her confidence, and now she has a permanent smile on her face. She started out stressing about her dental appointments, but soon after started bugging me about making her appointments as soon as possible! Next up, braces...and she is extremely excited about this, yikes! She really has changed...

Jessica is our more reserved child. While she is not quite as vocal around most people, she has definitely come out of her shell at home! Jessica has had to put on a tough face most of her life, but it is good to see that she is finally relaxing a little bit and letting mom and dad take the role of "parenthood". We have to remind her from time to time that she is the child, and she just smiles and says okay. We are trying to teach her that it is okay to be a kid. She is learning. She has opened up a lot about her past, and it is good to see her talking about things. I think it helps her to move on. She also loves school and church! At home, she enjoys drawing/painting, and playing with Erika. Those two would be lost without each other!

Jessica's 8th grade graduation: Rijanna (her best friend), Jessica, & me

With school out now, we are trying to keep the girls busy. Right now, they are at our church girl's camp. It is five days long...this is the first time they have been anywhere without mom and dad, so I am anxious to hear how they did. They are both in gymnastics and love it. I told them this summer we would start piano lessons, as this is something they have been wanting to do. Jessica's cousin that is her age is coming down from Utah in a couple weeks, and both will attend another church camp, this time boys will be able to attend...this should be interesting! She has recently attended a couple church dances. She pretends to not like it, but she insists on going! It is all innocent though. She had a crush on a boy at school for the entire year, but she always told me that she "could not live with herself if she had to talk to him". Those are her own words. I like her having crushes like that...from a distance! She really has blossomed over the past eight months; she is a very beautiful young woman.

Jessica and Erika are into the Webkinz program lately. They can spend hours on the computer playing games, and buying items for their Webkinz animal's home. We have to cut them off from the computer at times, so they can take a break and do something active! Fortunately for me, the girls love to exercise. It is great having dedicated workout partners! From time to time Kyle will even join in.

Erika had her 12th birthday on May 15th, so we threw her a swim party with a bunch of her girlfriends from school. She shared it with her cousin, Josie, as it was her birthday also! Below are pics from the party.

Here are the birthday girls!