On The Road Again

We are leaving today to head to Florida. It should be interesting. Dad's the driver. I'm the co-driver and mom is the entertainment coordinator. I'll update in a few days!

Baba's Been Shopping

I took my parents to a store called 5 Below. Everything is 5 dollars and less and it's got some really cool stuff. My mom found the kids some dress up items she thought would be fun for the road trip. Allie and Caden LOVED the reindeer kit - especially the noses. Jaelyn not so much...she said the nose was too bright in her eyes. I said she'd had too much sugar at school party and not enough carbs and proteins (as evident by what was left in her lunchbox) and was just in a bad mood!

Jaelyn's Story

Translation encase you can't make out a few words...I am going to Florida tomorrow. I am bringing all of my dresses. I have packed all of my toys. I am going by a airplane (how I wish). Last time I went I made a book.

Christmas Parties

Jaelyn and Caden both had Christmas parties in their classes today. Jaelyn's was all about the crafts and games. They strung cranberries and popcorn on wire to make wreaths and played a dradle game.

Caden's party was more of an open house for parents. The kids sang all of their songs and performed their finger plays. Santa stopped by to bring presents and then we ate lots of yummy food. I LOVED the kids in their reindeer horns and noses!

A Present For Daddy

My mom shared this story with me tonight so I hope I get it correct.

My parents took Caden shopping with them at Kohl's tonight. He found a light saber in the toy department. Now Caden already has a light saber that Dan bought him on a daddy/Caden day. He's been begging for a second one so someone can fight with him. Caden's eyes lit up and he asked Baba and Grandpa if he could buy the light saber for Daddy for Christmas. Does that just melt your heart? It melts mine. Resistance was futile and Dan, there's a light saber with your name on it at our house now! Mom said as they were walking through Kohl's, Caden looked around to make sure the aisle was clear and then he extended the light saber with quite the flourish to show them he knew how to use it! I love my little man!

Potty News

Allie cracks me up on a daily basis. Yesterday morning, she jumped out of bed and ran to the potty. 10 seconds later, I heard her scream "Mommy, I forgot to take off my underwear." Silly girl..she was in such a hurry, she forgot to drop her drawers before getting on the potty.

Jaelyn was doing really well with being dry at night. We went 2 weeks with no major accident and then just as quickly as she started being dry, she started having accidents again. I'm at a loss for what to do because she refuses to go back to pull-ups. For now, she's helping with stripping her bed and doing laundry.

I don't want my kids to grow up, but I sure will be glad when they are old enough that I don't have to think about potty issues everyday.

Our Newest Toy

I've been looking for a mini-trampoline for the basement since our jumpolene finally died several months ago. The other day, I found a mini-tramp with a net at etoys.com. It was regularly $119 clearanced to $29. I decided it was worth the gamble for that price. I paid $40 with shipping and it came today. I was going to wait until after Christmas to put it together, but I'm as bad as the kids and couldn't wait. It was a pain in the butt to assemble and I'm so glad my dad was here to help. It's going to be awesome to have though.It can also double as a cat cage! Not quite sure how he got in, but Caden jumping beside him didn't phase him in the least. I had to drag Zac out.

Opening Presents

I let the kids open presents from me and Dan this morning so they'd get to enjoy them for a few days before we leave. The big hit for Caden was the punching bag. Allie loves her new Polly Pockets with their umbrellas and the new doll house and Jaelyn was very impressed with her 50 piece pencil and accessory kit.

Baba and Grandpa Are Here

We were all so excited to go to the airport yesterday to pick up Grandma and Grandpa. They had some flight issues and missed a connection so I bet they were glad to see us finally too. I even cooked a real meal last night for them...my first big meal since Dan's been gone. It was so good to eat "real food."

Friday Fun with Friends

We celebrated Christmas with our friends Kelley and Alyssa on Friday night. We decided to meet at Friendly's because the girls had free kids' meals' coupons from Laps for Learning. This post is probably going to end up being a "you had to be there" kind of story, but I have not laughed as hard in a long time. The kids were very hyper and excited to be there. Our waitress was sweet, but very slow. That combination isn't always the best for eating out with 4 children. We had time to open presents, fight over presents and start to play with presents by the time our food arrived. There was too much excitement to eat, but with the promise of dessert, a few bites managed to go down. For dessert everyone got a M&M ice cream sundae with spoons that had handles at least 12 inches. I'm not exaggerating. So we start eating and Caden sets his spoon down in his shallow ice cream bowl. As soon as he let go, it flipped out and ended up bouncing from the bench onto the floor. We got that mess cleaned up and then Jaelyn did the exact same thing. Another spoon please. Next time, all of Jaelyn's ice cream ran down her dress and made it onto the floor with her spoon. Our sweet waitress brought Jaelyn an entirely new sundae and then I flipped my spoon out of the bowl and caught it (ice cream side up) on the table before it bounced onto the floor. All of this happened in about 5 minutes and I could hardly control the giggles. It was so funny, but I imagine as you are reading this, you are thinking "glad I wasn't sitting next to them." We had a corner all to our selves thankfully. It was great fun. Afterwards, we drove around for a bit and got our fill of Christmas light before coming home and going to bed. At least the kids went to bed, I stayed up several hours getting the last bit of work done for my parents' arrival.

I'm Done! I'm Done! I'm Done

I bought my last 3 Christmas presents today and I am officially done!!! I have about half of it wrapped and must finish the rest tonight BECAUSE...

...BABA AND GRANDPA ARRIVE TOMORROW!!!! Reinforcements will finally be here!

Spoke Too Soon Last Night

My little munchkins were up much later than I thought last night. When I blogged, I thought they were asleep. No such luck. They were just really quiet little munchkins. Caden finally conked out about 9:45 - 2 hours and 45 minutes after I put him in bed. Jaelyn gave up at 10. Oy! Caden was up at 6:30 as usual, but Jaelyn slept in. I woke her up with breakfast in bed at 8. It was way too nice and she didn't deserve it, but I knew she'd be tired and grumpy if she came downstairs without eating. It was a win/win for everyone.

I Think It's Time, But I'm Not Ready

The girls both gave up (or had taken away) their naps at 2 1/2. Bedtime just became unbearable. Caden is a month shy of 4 and I know I should be thankful, but I'm not ready for it to end. We were hit and miss with naps this summer and he was no where near ready. He had huge melt downs every afternoon. We went back to naps when school started and it helped. He was happy to lie in bed at night quietly. That has not been the case lately. Tonight, he's been in bed 1 hour and 41 minutes. He's called me repeatedly. He's been up and down for water and potty. He's even snuck down the stairs (that's a first). I think it's time to say good bye to afternoon naps, but I don't want to!!! I love my time in the afternoon. Waaahhhh!

Catching Up

Life is busy. Friday afternoon was Jaelyn's baby shower for her teacher. We made her a quilt. I bought the topper already pieced together at Joann's and Jaelyn helped me sew it. She did a little guiding with the sewing machine while I did the foot pedal and then we traded places while we assembled it. She also helped me hand quilt parts of it. I'd start the needle through several stitches and then she'd pull it out. It took a lot longer than if I did it myself, but I think she liked giving it to her teacher and being able to say she helped with it. Her teacher loved it.

We had a good weekend and Monday...all tantrum free. I stuck to Jaelyn like glue and did my best to head off anything I could see brewing. We played so many games of Uno, which I'm losing at btw. I've taught Jaelyn how to keep score and we now have a running tally. We colored page after page of fairies and if you know me well, I'm not really into coloring. We danced and sang and read books. It was fun and enjoyable for them to have me so focused on them, but it was very tiring for me. I was glad to send the girls back to school yesterday.

One night, Saturday night maybe, we had dinner at Chick-fil-a. The teenagers who work in there are so nice. One of them had an reindeer antlers and Allie was enthralled with her, and vice versa. We sat not too far from the counter and they weren't very busy. Allie and the girl took turns making funny faces at each other. As we were finishing up dinner, she called me to her register and told me she had bought the kids ice cream with her own money. Could she get any cuter? My kids LOVED their ice cream and I'm sure we'll be looking for "the reindeer girl" whenever we go in.

Yesterday, I was able to talk with a counselor. I'm super excited about getting started and getting some help with Jaelyn. We had another tantrum tonight at bedtime. She was tired and hungry and I know that was the trigger. We skipped snack before bed (which is only a small handful of cheerios so it's not like a huge meal) because Jaelyn and Caden didn't finish dinner. The rule is you get a snack if you eat your dinner. No dinner, no snack. Usually Jaelyn will finish when I remind her, but she didn't tonight. We needed to get out the door to ballet so I didn't push her. Mistake! Long story short, Jaelyn went to bed without brushing her teeth and had a fit. I finally distracted her out of it by getting her to spell words to me. I feel so pulled though because Allie and Caden were crying and wanting to be tucked in, but I had to deal with Jaelyn because she can get very physical and it just escalates if you ignore it. Sigh...anyway, all is quiet and calm now and I've munched on a few M&Ms (good thing I exercised during ballet). They were mixed with nuts so that's healthy, right?

I'm almost done with my Christmas shopping. I need to buy one small thing for the girls' bus driver and then the wrapping needs to begin. My parents come on Saturday and I want to open presents on Sunday so that the kids can enjoy their toys for a few days before we leave.

Dan is back in Besmaya after spending a few days in Baghdad. We were able to get our webcams hooked up today. We couldn't see him with his connection, but he was able to see us and we could talk. I've asked him to write an email for me to post about his life and job there. He might do it, he might not :p!

Ain't It Great To Be Crazy

In an attempt to entertain the kids this morning, we had fun making a music video. I hope you like it. We sure had fun filming it!!!

Jaelyn and Self Control

My last major blow-up with Jaelyn was Sunday. She's had no self control the last few months and it's gotten worse with Dan gone or maybe I've gotten worse at dealing with them because it's just me. Either way, she's been out of control. I started thinking about about the timing of her blow-ups. They started about the time it started getting cold after having no tantrums for months. I remember joking to Danny that she has a seasonal disorder. That stuck in my mind and a little light bulb went off Monday. The tantrums started again when the weather changed. When the weather changed, she went back on Singulair for allergies. A friend suggested I read about some of the behavioral side effects and oh my. I read so many anecdotal stories from parents regarding their kids and this medicine. Night and day type differences when their kids stopped taking it. I haven't given Jaelyn her medicine since Monday. It takes a few days to build up in their system and I'm sure a few days to get out. I'm really curious to see if it'll make a difference for us. She has done better and managed to keep it together when she got in trouble yesterday. I would love to see her gain some of her self control back.

In the meantime, I've talked with her school counselor and she sent home a journal and packet from The Kissing Hand. Jaelyn has enjoyed going through the journal and filling out pages about things she wants to tell Dan when he comes home and things she misses about him.

A Kitty Snappie

Zac has a cat bed he sleeps in on Caden's bed during nap time. Zoe never goes in the bed. Well, today, she was sacked out in it when we went up for nap. We put Zac on the bed thinking he'd nudge Zoe out, but he climbed in and layed on top of her to join her. 5 minutes later, they were still there when I'd found my camera! I love my kitties!

Field Trips

I've gone on two field trips this week. The first was a field trip for Caden to Amazing Glaze. That one was fun for me. All the moms dropped the kids off with the teachers and then headed to Panera for breakfast. I felt so sorry for Miss Heather and Miss Patty. We left them with 15 three year olds and 2 workers from the pottery place. The kids painted us plates for Christmas presents. I'm not supposed to know, but Caden said he painted with green and put his hand on the plate. I can't wait to see it. I don't get much girly chatting time so that was fun for me to just sit and sip my hot chocolate while we visited about holiday plans.

Yesterday, I went with Allie's class to Broom's Bloom Dairy. We've driven past it a few times, but never stopped. We have been missing out! The tour of the dairy itself was so interesting. They have a booth with a robotic arm that milks the cows. They've got the cows trained and they go into the booth by themselves to get milked. It was really cool. The highlight though had to be the ice cream. We got a tour of the kitchen and learned how they make their ice cream and then we got to sample it. It was THE BEST chocolate ice cream I've ever had. I'm taking my parents back to the little restaurant for lunch and ice cream when they come. I loved getting to spend time with Allie with her friends and she was really proud that I was there. Miss Burriss is working so hard with her. Allie's been a little emotional at school, but Miss B has been caring and understanding (probably more so than me). A funny...Allie showed me a flat, rubber circle that she sits on. She calls it her "dot" and it's her reminder to stay on her bottom. She keeps it on her chairs and takes it to the carpet with her. Like I said, Miss B has been truly wonderful working with Allie. I'm very thankful she's Allie's teacher.

A Wonderful Day

Maybe Jaelyn and I just needed some space (and maybe not). Today has been wonderful. We had no issues this morning. She was sweet and followed directions. Her coat was put on and zipped without a word from me. Jaelyn came home from school happy and stayed that way the rest of the day. We made our gingerbread house, did homework, had dinner, did bath, bed and beyond. Sure, we had a few little issues that needed correction, but she took that correction without melting down into a tizzy. It's so nice to not be sitting here with a huge knot in my stomach as I try to figure out what to do with her. It might not last till the morning, but that's okay. One day of peace gives me strength to get through tomorrow.

Gotcha Day

Today is my annual "trip down memory lane" day. 5 years ago today, Dan and I stood in front of a very stern faced Russian judge and petitioned the court to adopt Jaelyn and Allie. We am so thankful to have Jaelyn and Alexandra as our daughters. I can't imagine our lives without them. We have been truly blessed!!! The kids and I made our gingerbread house tonight to celebrate. The Grand in Moscow was decorated with elaborate gingerbread houses everywhere for Christmas and so we make one every year as a way to remember and to kick off our Christmas decorating (although not much decorating going on here this year :p)

So you can walk down memory lane with me, here are my journal entries from that week (sorry it's so long)....

12/1/03 -
This email is costing me $8 for 15 minutes, but I decided it was worth it to share our news with you as soon as possible. At 10:53 am (Samara time), after 30 minutes of questioning by the judge, she approved our adoption of Jaelyn and Alexandra and waived our 10 days. We will be leaving the hotel in a few minutes to drive to Togliatti (they didn't move the kids) to bring our kids home.

I can't believe this day is finally here. 8 months to the day that we started this process. Thank you so much for praying us through. God has blessed us beyond our grandest imaginations!

Tomorrow, we'll hang out at the hotel while Natasha completes are paperwork and gets our birth certificate and adoption decree processed. We are on a 5 pm flight back to Moscow.

12/1/03 - We were really nervous about our court appearance (when I say we, I mean us and the other 2 couples we traveled with). The night before, we asked our facilitator to tell us about the court, but she said "I'll tell you tomorrow." Do you know how frustrating that is. So over dinner, we talked and guessed at how things might go. The next morning, we met in the lobby at 9:00 all dressed in our "dark" court clothes. If it hadn't been for the glow on our faces, we would have been a rather somber group. Anyway, on the drive to court, Natasha told us a few things the judge would ask for sure. We, of course, were all wishing she had told us the night before, so we could have "studied." What nerds we are!!! Anyway, she told us we'd be asked our family income, we'd be asked if we knew our children had medical concerns and we'd have to ask the court to waive our ten days because "our children are sick, we have an appt with the pediatrician when we get home, and we have an appt with the American embassy."Dan and I elected to go first.

We went in and sat on the bench in the front of the courtroom. Natasha sat beside us. The judge sat directly in front of us on a small raised platform. It had 3 chairs and a desk - I guess sometimes they have panels of judges for other things. To the judge's left was the court reporter. We joked at dinner the night before about how she would record the session - it was with a pencil and paper. Beside her, directly to our right was the prosecutor at a small desk. To our left was a representative from the MOE. We all rose when the judge walked in (just like here). She read through our petition to adopt the girls and then the MOE read through the info on the girls. Natasha was translating for us.

When they were all done, Natasha told Dan to stand up. The judge was very serious, yet she was kind too. While she spoke, she looked at us, but while she deliberated our answers, she looked down and played with a folded piece of paper (it looked like one of those footballs we used to get in trouble with in elementary school). My favorite question came from the judge. She looked me up and down and then with the smallest smile, asked me "if I had enough strength and energy to take care of 2 young children, because I was so skinny." I was really nervous. The question made me laugh and smile and relaxed me a little.

After the questions, the judge had the lady from the MOE reread the info on the girls and asked us if we indeed wanted to adopt them (are you kidding - of course). The court was recessed at about 10:45. Dan and I were questioned for a total of about 30 minutes.

Then the judge came back in and read our adoption decree approving our adoption (at 10:53 am on Dec. 1, 2003) and waiving our 10 days. At the end she told us that she hoped we would love and cherish these children so that one day, when we are older, they will do the same thing for us and she wished us well. It was sweet.While the other two couples had their court appearances, Dan and I went with our driver to what we think was vital statistics and signed a bunch of forms for us and the other couples (while or before they had their court appearances) which we think were for the issuing the birth certificates. When we got back to the courthouse, in less than an hour, the other couples were done and the judge was gone.

12/4/03 -
It's 10:46 am in Moscow. The girls and Dan are taking a nap; so I'm doing one of my favorite things - playing on the computer. The computer is still down so I'm paying to use the one in the business center.

Thanks mom for sending the email. When we got to the orphanage on Monday, we all went back into the same room as before. Then Natasha came and got Dan and I and told us to come with her "something had happened to one of our children." Of course our stomachs sank. The week before Alexandra received 1st and 2nd degree burns on her bottom. We don't believe it was malicious or intentional. The caregiver also received burns on her arms. They told us they had some kind of problem with the water??? We'll never really know what happened. Anyway, the first few days with her were rough because we were instructed to leave her diaper off most of the time. I won't share the details....let's just says it's wasn't a pretty picture. We were given some sort of spray to put on the burns 4-5 times a day and medicated gauze for when she has on a diaper. We decided to just us the gauze and diapers (the blister is gone). The burn is healing and looking much better. We are only giving her Tylenol a couple times a day.

So as my mom said, Jaelyn is really bonding with Dan because I've spent lots of time with Alexandra. And when we've been out, I've carried 13 lb Alexandra and Dan's carried 22 lb Jaelyn. Both girls are really sweet and we think we've been doing a pretty good job with them. We haven't had any major issues anyway. It still doesn't seem real. It just feels like we are baby sitting. I think once we get them HOME, it'll all change. We can't wait to get home.

We are staying in the "baby suite" at the hotel. It has a complete babies room that is awesome and well stocked.

My time is almost up. There's so much more to tell, it'll wait. Please continue to pray for us. We still have a very long plane ride. We'll be at the hotel today and tomorrow. Amrex takes care of the registering at the Russian consulate so we don't have to go out in the cold. Also pray for quick healing for Alexandra!


12/7/03 - From my Mom

Kelly asked me to send you an e-mail to let you know what is going on with them. Yesterday morning we were awakened to a call from Kelly saying that Delta had cancelled their flight from Moscow to New York and that they were flying home on Aeroflot and that they should be able to make their connection. Before I was awake enough to tell her that there was a blizzard over New York, she was gone. Lou and I got in the car and drove to Atlanta with the assumption that maybe they really would make their connection. After arriving at Dan and Kel's house about 2:00 in the afternoon, we received a call from Delta airlines saying that their flight from New York to Atlanta had been cancelled. After four phone call with Delta, I had managed to get them rescheduled on a Monday flight and I was assured that there were no hotels rooms left in New York. At that point, we believed they would be sleeping in the airport for two days. So we just sat and waited. At about 7:00 last night Kelly called to say they had landed safely and that they well all fine. A while later they called to say they did get a hotel room although very expensive and were headed there in a cab. You can't believe the number of phone calls that we received yesterday. One of them was from Kelly's Uncle Larry in Philadelphia asking how they could help. My first thought was that they could drive to New York and pick them up. He said that the Philadelphia airport was open and if they could get there they could say at their house or they would help however they could. We gave the info to Dan and Kelly and later they called to say that they would be catching a train this morning to Philadelphia and would be staying at Sandy and Larry's home until Monday when they have a flight out in the afternoon.

At some point I realized we hadn't even asked how the girls were. I promise I wasn't being a bad grandma, just a tired one. So when I talked to a very tired, stressed, and hungry Kelly at the hotel I asked about the girls. One minute Kelly sounded like she could hardly put one foot in front of the other and then when she started talking about her girls, all of her energy and happiness returned. She was just bubbling over with pride for how well the girls had adjusted to every situation. She said Alexandra had even gone five hours without a bottle without complaining. Other than a shortage of diapers and a desire for different formula and a definite need for sleep, at least at that point we knew everything was fine. I spoke to Dan at some point and realized that his strength had taken over and he would get everything organized for them.

I probably don't have to tell you how proud Lou, Larry, Joan and I are of our children right now. They've already as very new parents, handled some tough situations. Also again I thank you for all your thoughts and prayers. They couldn't have gotten through all this without your prayers.
I'm sure Kelly will write to you as soon as she runs into the first computer.

12/8/03 - From Dan

Hello everyone this is Dan. We made it in today very frazzled and tired, but we made it none the less. Jeannie and Lou met us at the airport and are helping watch the girls while we get back on our feet. The girls have been GREAT! Kelly is not feeling well, and it may take a few days before she is back with it.

Thanks for all the prayers... we would have never made it without them.