Faster!

This time of year I feel like I am on the twirl-a-whirl and someone yelled, "Faster!".  In two weeks our oldest graduates from high school.  Meanwhile he has prom, a bunch of soccer games, senior retreat and Junior Senior Banquet.
We also have 2 other soccer players, 4 baseball players, 1 swimmer and 3 girl scouts.  All of these activies have end-of-year events.  There is Spring Sing at the elementary school and summer activities to sign up for. It is all fun, but a bit crazy.
Meanwhile, my mind is planning our trip to Ethiopia for our court date. I sneak a peak at his picture once in a while and start to rethink where he will sleep, ride in the car (I guess I need to buy another car seat), and where his clothes will go!

Court Date!

We found out on Tuesday that we have a June 21st court date in Ethiopia!
It is hard to believe that it has finally been scheduled.  Brad and I will be going -  we haven't been away together for a long time:)

It will so exciting to meet our newest little guy.  It has also been a long time since we have had a 3 year old little boy around here! I am sure it will be an adventure.

College and Kindergarten

Yesterday on my dining room table I had an application for college and an application for Kindergarten.  We are trying to figure out where my oldest and youngest sweeties will go to school next year. Luke is considering going to West Valley Community College. He had a great meeting with the soccer coach there. It is hard to believe he is graduating from high school in about 6 weeks.
Amy will be 5 in Juy and we believe she is ready for Kindergarten.  Next year will be exciting for everyone!

Road Trip

I took the four girls to the beach for four days this last week during their spring break.  They referred to it as a road trip even though it was only an hour away. We enjoyed the beach, the Monterey Bay Aquarium, and yummy food! There was a lot of laughter and fun.
I thought Kali's English was almost complete, but we stumbled across one word she didn't know.  As we were driving we entered a daylight safety zone. Lana read a sign aloud - Turn on your headlights.  Kali laughed and laughed.  Headlights - we don't have lights in our head! The two eight year olds explained what headlights are, but it was too late.  Kali laughed and laughed and then would say "headlights" again and laugh some more. 
After 10 minutes the giggling began to slow down.  But Lana called out, "Hey, look over there - purple portapotties!"  This time all four girls were hysterical. Purple portapotties became a tongue twister and they laughed until they could barely breath.

What a blessing to have sisters!

Our One Year Anniversary!

Kali has been here over a year now and is amazing! We thought helping a six year-old transition into our family and culture would be much more difficult than it has been. She quickly learned English and fit in with her new siblings. The girls have gotten along since day one.  Our youngest (4 years old) and Kali were jealous of my attention at the beginning.  They loved each other, but didn't really want to share mom.  So I often had two girls on my lap and fighting for my attention. That can still happen but not all that often.

I worked with Kali at home from last March through the summer getting her ready for Kindergarten.  I don't think she had used scissors before or had done much, if any, coloring.  So we worked on fine motor skills, learning letters, and letter sounds, I read aloud a lot of books (fair tales, classics, our family favorites, etc.). She did both Kumon and Get Ready for the Code workbooks. She attended Sunday School and Wed morning preschool (where I am the teacher) at church during the women's Bible study.  By mid-August she was very ready for Kindergarten and has done very well.

She sleeps well and the range of what she will eat continues to expand. She really likes meat, plain pasta, gogurts, and fruit. She loves pizza and ice cream! She has been very healthy. She is tiny, under 3% in height, but has gotten closer to the growth chart 3% line over the last year!

Overall, she has had very few issues, but she has had daily tantrums or meltdowns.  As an example, about a month ago, Brad and I drove separately to church and he went home first with a few of the kids.  Kali didn't notice they were leaving.  When they were gone she said she wanted to go with dad.  I told her he had already left and she sat down on the ground and refused to move. After about 10 minutes I ended up carrying her to the car while she cried and flailed. Fortunately, she is not very big so I can carry her.  In the last month the meltdowns and whining have been greatly reduced! Her maturity has taken a big leap in the last several weeks. She is usually pretty easy going now. She has always been truthful and considerate of other people's feelings. And she has been affectionate and cuddly since early in our relationship.

We are very blessed to have Kali in our family and love her dearly!

Sisters and Best Friends

Amy and Kali are best friends as well as sisters. They play together all day and have started dressing in matching outfits whenever they can.  They are so cute together. This picture was at Chuck E Cheese last summer for Amy's birthday.  It was Kali's half birthday and so we had a double birthday party. It was just our family and I think it was one of the most fun parties I have ever been to.  The two girls were so excited and cute. I am so blessed to be their mom.

Funny Stories

One of the best parts of having many children is that there is something pretty humorous everyday.  We also have at least one person cry and usually a couple of siblings arguing - but there is a lot to laugh about.

My friend, Crysta, reminded me of a couple of funny Kali stories:  Brad and I try to go out for dinner a couple times a month.  The two youngest girls don't really like us going without them.  One night Kali told Brad and I she didn't want us to go.  Brad told her it was important for us to go once in awhile.  Kali told him that he could out, but not mom. And she said, "find another mom to take out."  Brad thought that was funny, but I explained to her that he was not allowed to take another mom out to dinner:)

When we decided to adopt again, I asked the two youngest if they wanted another sibling.  Amy said in 4 year old fashion, "we is enough." Kali agreed.  Then I asked, what if it is another child from Ethiopia?  Kali's eyes lit up and she rubbed her hands together and said oh, yes! Then I said we were planning on adopting a little boy from Ethiopia. Kali looked disappointed and irritated.  "A boy??! Why would we want a boy?" Now they both seem to warming up to the idea and agree his pictures are cute.

Our oldest is getting ready to take his behind the wheel test to get his driver's license.  This has made driving and cars a hot topic at our house. Our almost 15 year old can hardly wait for his turn and is talking about saving up to buy Brad's car in a year. Yesterday he asked Amy, who will start Kindergarten next year, if she would like him to drive her to first grade.  She said, "No, I will have my own car." Expectations are apparently very high in our family!