Easter Sunday

Before church I tried to get a couple of quick pictures.

My sweet girls...Andrew kept running away.

 There he is...After church we went over to Nana and Pa's house for a big lunch and Easter egg hunt. I think the best part of the day was this...when we picked Andrew up from his class he had a "megaphone" made out of a styrofoam cup...The first thing he did was hold it up to his mouth and yell, "Jesus is Alive!!!" 

 One more picture at Nana's and Pa's before changing clothes!

Andrew still up to his old tricks! Candy first!

Easter Saturday

On Saturday we went to Michael's mom's house for an Easter egg hunt then on to his aunts house for a big family get together. We had a fun filled day complete with silly string, sno-cones, and an egg toss!

 Andrew went Easter egg hunting like he did trick-or-treating..eat as you go! He would pick up an egg, open it and if it was candy he would put it in his mouth and throw the egg down...if he opened it and it was a toy...he threw toy and egg down and went on to the next one! Pretty comical!

Mimi and Papa with all the kiddos!

Soccer

I finally got some pictures of Kennedy's soccer game (no memory card for first game then forgot it for the second game=(  She is doing great this season and most importantly has so much fun playing. 

Go Kennedy Go!!!

Lets Go Fly a Kite!

It has been really windy lately. So what better thing to do than to fly a kite! The wind would have really strong gusts then as soon as we got the kites up the wind would just stop...

 The wind was so strong at times it kept breaking the kites..maybe next time I shouldn't go for the value kite!

My boy had NO interest in this kite flying thing...he just wanted a Popsicle!

He finally decided to give it a try!

Zoo Animals at School!

I've already said it...but Kindergarten is soooo fun! Each student was assigned an animal to "research". Then on Friday they had to come to school dressed as their animal.  They got to share their research projects with not only the parents but the whole school!

 My precious little "duct tape" Zebra!

 Complete with zebra nails!

 My zebra with her project.

 Here she is with the other zebra in class.. All the animals were in pairs...As parents and other students walked through they were encouraged to ask the "animals" to give them some facts about their species! Did you know that no two zebras have the same pattern of stripes?

 This would be Andrew "petting" the animals! He thinks he's back at the zoo!

Here are the cousins again...Zebra and Tiger! Stashia and I worked hard getting their costumes ready...it was fun!

Kinder Field Trip

I just love kindergarden! They always do so many fun things. The last couple of weeks they have been studying zoo animals.  They ended their study with a trip to the zoo! Mika was so excited about riding the big yellow bus!

 Getting ready to take on the zoo!

 Mika and Savanna-so fun that cousins get to be in the same school!

 Mika really wanted to see the zebras because that was the animal she choose to research. They were not out since their area was being re-done...so she took her picture next to a zebra picture=)

She got to ride home with me and fell asleep only a few minutes after we left the zoo...that's how I knew she had fun!

I have to add this part in...I ended up buying a zoo membership. Now that we are a family of five I figured it would be a better deal..free parking, free entry, gives us something to do during the summer, etc...Even though we went to the zoo on Wed. I took the kids back on Saturday afternoon. We didn't go until late afternoon. We spent the most of our time watching the chimpanzees... I have never seen them so active. One chimp got as close as he could and kept waving at us...then he threw rocks at us 3 different times!! The zookeeper fed them oranges while we were watching so we saw 2 chimps get in a fight! Greatness! The baby chimp even came out to play...so precious.. we all decided we would like one for a pet!

T-ball and Soccer

Kennedy and Mika had their first games this last weekend...and they were both at the same time! Since Michael is coaching Mika's team he was with her and Andrew and I went to Kennedy's soccer game. Aunt Stashia was able to get some pictures for me at the T-ball game. I took my camera to Kennedy's game got like one picture then realized I didn't have my memory card in=( So...soccer pictures to come soon after her next game!

Mika and Savanna

Thats my girl=)

Run Mika Run!

I can't wait to see her in action!

6 Month Follow-Up

Andrew finally had his 6 month follow up! He is doing great!! The doctor was impressed with how big he has gotten and how well he is doing over all..When we first met him last June he only weighed 19 pounds. Now my boy weighs 31.5 pounds and he has grown 3 inches since being home. Andrew loves going to the doctor..I'm not really sure why but he just walks right in and jumps on the scales then stands against the wall to be measured. When the doctor comes in the room he gets right up on the table. He is very coroperative! Maybe my girls could learn from him=)

He loves people! He definitly knows who his family is and our bond is getting stronger each day. It has been frustrating at times that it seems like the attachment piece is taking longer than I thought. I have to remind myself that he spent his first 2 years in an orphanage with many caregivers in and out of his life.  Full attachment will come....it just takes time and it's only been 7 months.
I am impressed with how quickly he is learning English. I would say he has around 200 words now! He is using 3-4 word sentences and even ask questions! We don't use many Russian words with him anymore because when we do he responds in English...The one I do still use is "nyet" which is "no". I usually tell him no in English but if he doesn't respond I say it in Russian and he responds right away....Hey, whatever works right?

Shoes for Orphan Souls

My aunts church is collecting shoes for "Shoes for Orphan Souls"...She invited us to come and share with the church a little of our adoption story and the need we saw for shoes. We were excited about the opportunity to share our story and yes, I still get emotional about it=) Did you know that "Shoes for Orphan Souls" was originally called "Shoes for Russian Souls"? In 1995 a group went to St. Petersburg, Russia to work in  the orphanages.  They noticed that the baby's all had rubber bands tied around their shoes to hold them on. The older kids had so many holes in their shoes that they wore plastic bags over them to keep the snow out.

When we met Andrew for the first time we noticed that his shoes were too small for his feet.  The next couple of visits his shoes were probably 2 sizes too big..making it very difficult for him to walk.  We have heard that in some orphanages the children either get shoes or socks...but never both simply because there isn't enough to go around.
This ministry has created an awesome opportunity to help care for the children around the world!

Spring Break

The first half of spring break we went camping with my sisters family. It was a nice break! The place we went camping at had this huge bouncy pillow....the kids lived on that thing! Kennedy and Jake bumped into each other at one point...Kennedy had a knot on her head and Jake had a black eye..not to worry, it didn't stop them from going back!

 I had to beg them to be still for a picture!

 Andrew "helping" daddy "fik" fix Mika's bike...My boy is a happy camper when he has tools!

 One day we drove into town and went to this little park...We didn't stay long..because this is the one day it was cold! So we went and ate at Mercados for lunch...yummy!!

 The kids had a blast at the camp playground. The see Saw was a hit..you don't see to many of them anymore.

We also went to the zoo. I love the Tyler zoo! You can't tell from the picture but they are all piled into one wagon...they were tired little kiddos!  This time Andrew really enjoyed the zoo!

Thank you Carla and Jon for the fun times!