Wedding Weekend!

Michael's cousin got married this weekend at a ranch in Graham, Texas! We weren't sure until the day before the wedding if we would all be going or just Michael and the girls..We decided it would be fun if we could all go.. We were mostly concerned about the long drive and the overnight stay with Andrew...The drive down went great until the last 30 minutes..it then quickly reminded us of our train ride in Russia!

What would we do without a DVD player in the car? Andrew mostly ate the earphones...but at least it kept him busy!

The wedding was beautiful!! The reception was sooo much fun! I enjoyed watching my kids dance and have a blast! Andrew surprised us...he loved the music and dancing...he got sad if we took him off the dance floor!! He wanted to be right in the middle of all of it! I think if he had his way he would have been playing with the band!!

                            Getting ready to go home....where's my luggage??

Surgery Day

Today was a big day for Andrew.. He had surgery on both of his eyes to correct his strabismus (crossing of the eyes). He was so brave and such a trooper! The worst part was recovery.. When he first woke up he looked at me, pulled at one of the many wires attached to his little body and said, "off!"...He just didn't understand... It didn't make it any easier that every time he cried his tears were bloody..broke my heart. The anesthestia made him really nausiated.. He threw up several times..Once we got medicine for that he was fine...His eyes will be really blood shot for a couple of weeks, no swimming for 2 weeks, and thats about it! His eyes already look straight! It's amazing what doctors can do in 1 hour! Thanks for all your prayers!

How cute is he in his little scrubs?

A bucket of action figures to keep him happy! Look how huge his pants are! I finally got him to be still long enough to get them rolled up!

At home after surgery! Look at the difference=)

First Day of School

Mika

Kennedy

My attempt at all 3!!

I can't believe my baby girl started Kindergarten and my big girl started 3rd grade!! Where does time go? They where both excited about going to school=) They both had an awesome day and love their teachers! The best part? Recess!! After school we went for snowcones!

Busy Week!

I am getting behind on my blog again! We had a great week! We promised the girls that once we got done with all trips we would go and do something really fun together as a family of 5..Well.. when it's 104 degrees outside the only thing to do is go to a waterpark!! So last Saturday we went to Hawaiin Falls! We lasted about 4 hours... it was almost too hot to even be at a waterpark..We had so much fun.. I keep trying to get pictures of all my kids together... I think it is mission impossible=)

Tuesday we went to my sisters house for dinner.. she lives out in the country.. Andrew LOVED being outside so much! They have 4 wheelers and all sorts of fun things.. I think my boy will be into the extreme sports for sure!

basketball

Skateboarding

He loved riding in this thingy! He would squeal he was so excited!! He did not like it when it would stop!

Sometimes Andrew does not like to take pictures!!

On Wed. Andrew had 2 doctors appointments.. We were at Childrens hospital from 9-2! Long day but he did great. We met first with our International Adoption Doc...Dr. Latour... She is awesome! She spent a long time with Andrew..she was very pleased with everything she saw=) He has already gained 4.4 pounds since we first met him in June! He is not as far behind as I thought he was... He overall is around 18 months.. not 14 months! We will have to get all his shots redone=( We will do this over time though..Then it was off to his eye appointment.. He does have strabismus in both eyes pretty severe so they will do surgery... tomorrow (Tuesday 8-24) 

On Saturday he went to his cousins birthday party! It was very cute to see him with a bunch of other 2 year old little boys!

                                                Andrew and PaPa

First Week

It has been a whole week home as a family of five! What a week it has been! We have never been so happy to be home!! We have the most amazing family and friends! We came home to a clean house and a stocked fridge thanks to some amazing ladies in our Life Group at church! My sister in law came by our house and had our air turned down for us and had left lots of toddler friendly snacks! I have not had to cook one meal this week thanks again to our Life Group! We are blessed! The transition has gone better than I expected..I did get a bad sinus infection the day after we returned. A trip to the doctor and a round of antibiotics later I feel much better! My girls are the best big sisters ever...Andrew has 3 mommas! Michael did have to go out of town Wed.-Fri. (today) but we have survived. Andrew is sleeping through the night for the most part.. he is still on Russia time zone! For the first part of the week he tended  to wake up around 3:30-4:00am ready to go for the day! Then he was ready to take a nap by 8:30 am..so I let him nap until 10:30 then kept him up for the rest of the day..it was hard but now he is sleeping through the night!

He is learning so quickly! This morning I told him to go get his books..and he did! When I ask him where his shoes are.. he starts looking for them! He now says "dink" for drink..."all done" , "up" , "open", "papa",and I am sure there are a few other little words.. those are the ones he uses often! He is so fun! He has done great with everything....even shopping!! I think he enjoys getting out of the house...even if it is back to school shopping for his sisters!