First Day of School

Today was the first day of school for all 3 of our boys.  Tyler is now in the 3rd grade.  Eric is in Kindergarten and Wesley is in Preschool.  Wesley was very excited to be going back to "school", but Tyler and Eric, not so much.  Despite the "non excitement" Tyler got up sometime in the 5:00 hour but stayed in bed until 6 when he got up and ready and was ready to leave by 6:20.  Mind you we don't have to leave till 7:45.  Eric was close to the same.  He came up at 6:20 frantic because his alarm clock didn't go off.  (It was set for 6:45).  When I dropped Tyler off I asked him if he wanted me to walk in with him since this is the first day in a new school.  He told me not to worry because we would just ask someone if he got lost.  I think I had a harder time than he did with the new "big school". Tyler came home most impressed with the lunch situation.  They get to serve themselves now in the "big school".  He said it was like a buffet.  It sure impressed him. 

I walked Eric in and checked out his room and found his spot at a table before taking him to the gym where they all gather.  I then waked with him to his classroom and just peeked in from the hall.  Well as soon as he walked in the room I could see there was trouble.  Another child had sat in the spot with Eric's nametag.  I was very proud of how he handled this situation.  He stood and waited for quite a while for the teacher.  The teacher was swamped with kids crying and parents wanting to talk to her so she didn't notice.  Then the other child started doing Eric's dot to dot paper that was on the table.  I could see Eric gettin upset and starting to losing his patience so I went in to help him out.  When I asked the other child what his name was we found out he was also an Eric only spelled with a K.  I helped that little boy find his chair and Eric said "thanks Mom" and I left.  Eric came home and said he really needed a nap but the teacher said "no naps for Kindergarteners".  I'm sure if I would have tried to put him down for a nap he would have argued all afternoon. 

Wesley had fun of course but couldn't remember any details like who he played with, what was for snack or if they learned any letters.  I think he is more of a "good times" kind of guy.  Details just didn't mean much today. 

                                 Peeking in on Eric during his name tag situation.  :)

6 months ago

At this time 6 months ago today, I was on the last bit of our 24 hour trip to bring our daughter home!  Chad and our boys met Josie and I at the airport and it truly is a day I will never forget.  Josie has changed so much in the past 6 months.  She went from being a quiet shy tiny girl to being not shy at all, and very vocal about what she wants.  She does her very best to keep up with her 3 big brothers.  She tries to say almost anything and has at least 65 words in her vocabulary that she says on her own.  The latest being "snack".  She uses this one when she wants some sort of junk food.  I think her favorites are M&M's.  She also says "please" a lot now.  She can now climb up on chairs and does so all the time.  She went from cruising around furniture to flat out running.  When we were bringing her home our family had no idea what life with 4 kids would be like. While it is definitely busy and we are always on the go, none of us would change it for anything in the world.  Josie was truly meant to be part of our family.  Her personality just fits our family and I am honored and blessed to get to be her Mommy. 

                            Josie is 22 months today and has been home 6 months today! 

                                                              Snuggle that baby!!

 

               6 months ago.  Touch down on American Soil.  She became a US citizen!!!!

                                           We are on our way home baby girl!!

 Right after the Embassy appointment where we got the final paperwork to take our daughter HOME!

Getting to know Daddy in Russia

Tree Damage

We had a big storm blow thru town last night.  There was a lot of down trees and limbs, along with some structural damage around town.  We lost about 1/2 of our big tree in our back yard.  The rest of the tree will have to be taken down as well.  I really hate to have this happen since we love that tree for all the shade it provides but we are so very lucky it landed the way it did.  If it landed any other way it could of easily been right in the house so even though it is a mess, we consider ourselves blessed.  The only other damage we received is that some hay stacks blew over.   

Of course the boys thought the new jungle gym that appeared over night was pretty cool.  Luckily we have a great crew working at the business and they showed up today armed with a chain saw ready to work.  They got a bunch hauled off today and will be back tomorrow to haul the rest off.  The boys took some of the branches and made themselves a teepee.