Happy Thanksgiving 2007!

The kids and I are having a low-key holiday with a few friends coming over and a huge turkey in the oven...We will put together Logan's bunk bed and spend some time outside since it is supposed to be 75 degrees and sunny. Right now it is about 60 and cloudy.

I am thankful to God for my family (both near and far). I am thankful to the women in Russia who have given me the most precious gifts and allowed me to be a mother. I hope that they are healthy and that they know that I will treasure them till the day I die. I am thankful for my career and for being able to go to a job I love everyday and to come back home to a family that I love. Our trials seem trivial.

I hope that your day is happy and that you stop to enjoy the fruits of life!

Going back!

I have been working on getting my homestudy updated for about 10 months now. Initially I was planning on going back to Russia but because of all of the slowdowns with accreditation issues, I spent some time this spring and fall doing some extra education and things while I considered adoption from Foster Care.

Ultimately, I decided to go back to Russia. I've spent the last 2-3 months trying to choose an agency. I can now say that I have signed with The Cradle to complete my 4th (and probably last) Russian adoption.

The exciting part is that I am going back to Rostov-on-Don! I am sooo happy to be having all of my kids have a common heritage and hope that it will make things easier when we go back to see where they came from.

The Cradle is an agency in Evanston IL. The international coordinator has been very nice, and very responsive. We had a phone conference on Monday of last week and we reviewed the dossier requirements. They do things a little differently than my previous agency and I was able to get the first installment of documents together and sent off to them by Friday in order for them to send them to Russia for them to be translated and for me to get a referral. She thought that I might be able to get a referral and first trip before the end of the year! I have a counter on the page to document how long it has taken from the time of signing with them. Here's hoping it is relatively quick.

Weekend behavior...or can you say we don't like Mom working on the weekend?

I am on service in the hospital this week and next so had to work yesterday. I had arranged for the kids to go back to the hospital Daycare for the day. The hospital has this new "perk" called Back-up Care and for 20 days a year, you can have your kids either babysat at home or got to a center for care if you are working - or they are sick - or the school is closed. It is a great deal cuz for $25 I got to have all 3 at the center for the day. Even with a teenager babysitting I would have had to pay more!

Only problem is that I reap the negative behavior after a day like that. they pretty much act out after a day away (when they expect me to be with them). I've been struggling all day.

Today was busy. First we went to get doughnuts - which I had promised them yesterday. We got back and they ate and ate...still 2 hours later, Matthew wanted a snack! All that sugar goes thru you fast. Riley woke up on the wrong side of the bed and was alternating being in time out and being sent outside to do laps. Nothing worked to make his mood better.

Then we had Church. The mother who was supposed to stay with the teacher this week didn't show so I stayed with my co-teacher. So, I didn't get to go to church and relax. Then we came home and ate lunch.

After lunch, Logan took a little nap and Riley and Matthew went outside ...they lasted about 20 minutes. Then they annoyed me and alternated playing with my laptop journaling program - they like to color with the different pen/ink sizes and colors using the tablet feature.

At 2:15 we all got up to get ready for Soccer. Logan was off with a neighbor girl and her dad who is taking some early childhood education classes for his master's degree and he needed to tape language in a toddler.

Today was the last soccer game. The boys both did well but the other team was good (and aggressive) -lots of elbows were thrown and Riley was getting annoyed. But he held it together and really behaved well. Afterwards the kids got "trophies" and they were even engraved with their names. I was proud of them.

Can't wait till they start basketball in the new year!!!!

Chewing...

For those of you who know us, you might know about Matthew's struggles with Sensory Integration and (specifically) feeding. He basically came to me with an inability to chew and reflux and vomiting. The first two years were a blur of therapy and vomiting. He's much better now, but still tends to hold food in his mouth much longer than most.

Tonight Logan took a great big bite of her sandwich before jumping down from the table and ...she started gagging on it. Matthew was standing next to her and as she gagged he said...

It's okay, Logan...watch me...just chew like this (and then made these exaggerated chewing motions with his mouth. Apparently - he is an expert now!

Weekend Fun

Well, it has been a good and bad weekend. I am on service starting tomorrow for the next two weeks so we will have full weekends with me working the larger part of the Saturdays. Yesterday Riley went to a classmates birthday at the bowling alley. While he was there, Matthew and Logan and I went to see The BEE Movie. We got home around dinner time and had a staple ...Macaroni and Cheese.

Today we had church and then went to the boys soccer game. It was a good game! Both of the boys scored at least 2 goals!

Matthew (finally) seemed to get it. Last week he was funny because he had really liked playing the "pirate" game in practice - one child gets to be the pirate and kick the ball out from under the other kids. He spent the entire game last week kicking the ball out (of bounds) from others feet.

Today he started off playing pirate but the coach pulled him aside and said something like...look up and kick it toward the goal and ...he got it. He headed downfield and got a goal ahead of everyone. And even repeated the feat about 5 minutes later. He was so proud of himself and was so excited he nearly knocked the coach off his feet!

We have two more weeks of soccer and then nothing until January when the two boys will play basketball. That ought to be interesting.

All Ready for the Flu!

My friend Beth researched for me about some Flu vaccine clinics at the local pharmacies - my insurance benefits were paying for them free to clients and their Dependants. There is one near my house which had a clinic from 7:30 - 11:30 so we got up really early and left the house before 7 to get there and get breakfast. I had told the boys (well, really Riley who gets all worked up about these things) that they could get the flu mist this year (given intra nasal) and luckily, the FDA approved it down to 2 years so Logan could get it that way too. So we all got our flu vaccines this morning. I got the regular shot because I have a cold and didn't want it to interfere with the nasal vaccine. Anyway, the kids were great but because I had a bandaid (and since bandaids are so popular in our house) all 3 of them wanted one. My little Logan is pretty bright and when they gave her one, she opened it as we were leaving and put it squarely across the bridge of her nose! Even though there was no pain, she knew where her ouchy was! Thank god that is over...one less thing to worry about!