Christmas Concerts

Last Thursday was a busy one for our family. Price's kindergarten class had a holiday musical so we were treated to a 15 minute performance and then ate lunch with him. He got all shy and quiet during the show but apparently, the day before during rehearsal, he had refused to say the lines at all so the class was quite happy he said them during the actual play.

Then Thursday night Evan and Brynn had their preschool Christmas performance while Caleb, at the same time, had his musical show (grades 3-5). Doug went with Caleb and said it was excellent. I went with the preschoolers... Evan spent most of the time holding up his pants (really he was being overly dramatic; they weren't that loose) but once in a while would get into the songs. Brynn looked like she never knew there were hand motions at all and spent the whole first song picking her finger and then asked for a bandaid from her teacher when the song ended. I did get a picture of Evan yawning and one of Brynn itching her nose (I am sure that is what she was doing). Overall, they did a great job!! And after, they got to eat the goodies and chat with Santa.

Brynn's Ticket

Today Brynn received her Certificate of Citizenship along with 137 other children, from preschool age through the teens, and from many different countries. The ceremony was held at a children’s museum close to our USCIS office, which for us is 2 ½ hours away. The idea was nice, but the 45 minute ceremony didn’t have a big impact on Brynn, not even when a local Congressman addressed the crowd. She just wanted her “ticket” and to go play! She did at least hold her hand up to take the oath. Since the museum was only open for the ceremony (we didn't know this ahead of time), Brynn celebrated afterwards with a sweet lunch... a chocolate chip, whipped cream covered pancake!

Caleb and Evan came along on the day's adventure. Price chose to go to school instead... there is nothing that would make him miss a single day with his teacher! While it would have been great to have him along, I am very thankful that school makes him that happy.

I Love My Elves!

We did this last year and it is still just as much fun this year!

http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=1442393839

And while this year you can have more than one elf dancing at a time, the limit is four so unless they add a few more spots next year, Doug and I won't be sharing our dancing talents.

Brynn's Holiday

“Decorated”

“Not decorated”

“Decorated”

“Not decorated”

“Decorated”

“Awesome”

Candles in a window does not classify a house as decorated by the way but the taillights of hundreds of cars headed home from Christmas shopping does. Yesterday in the car she announced the need for us to decorate our car because it would be “cool!” She wants to know when we are going to decorate our house like the houses she sees where the electric bill must be thousands of dollars for the month of December. She wants to decorate her preschool.

She is loving the holiday season. And I am loving her loving it.

I am also thrilled that in 7 days, at her preschool Christmas performance, I may know more words to the song she has been singing when she is not on her decorated/not decorated kick.
“Mary had a baby, Oh Lord” repeated over, and over, and over, and over, and over is almost all we get. Once in a while we get a “Name him Jesus, Oh Lord” thrown in. Not that she would let us sing with her if I even learned the rest; she lets you know she is a solo act.

And have I said before how loud Brynn is, all the time? I often think I need to get her hearing checked because I don't think she understands the term "inside voice." At least this season she is sharing a wonderful message to everyone within ½ a mile when she is singing her carols and not bringing on evil looks with her tantrums.

Kate

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas... finally!

Well, the new carpet we had installed a few months ago was finally replaced with our new new carpet (I wasn't willing to purchase carpet that had unremovable stains when installed... imagine that!) and finally, we could put up the tree. So after battling the lights on Friday night, the kids decorated it Saturday morning. They did a splendid job! It is quite a collection of old and new, handmade, purchased, and gift ornaments. Since the picture we have the train up and running around the bottom so the battle for that remote has begun!

We then headed up to the town Christmas festival. Gotta love a small county parade... lots of local fire departments, church groups, scout groups, the local high school band, people just walking down the street and you are not sure why, and this year, in addition to the port-a-potties on wheels that can spin and do wheelies, that same company had a bicycle rider whose seat was a toilet!

Funny of the day: We hiked the mile or so to the parade... Caleb rode his bike, I pushed the younger two in the double stroller, and Price walked and rode the scooter. All of a sudden I notice he has fallen (I think) onto some one's lawn and I asked him what happened and with his cute, 5 year old missing-two-teeth grin said "I tripped over the invisible doggie fence."

Not-so-funny of the day: Thanks to Evan, we now all know that M&M's also melt in your nose! At least the blue ones do. Not sure we wanted to know this though...

Kate

Bring on the Tooth Fairy!

Things have been so crazy here lately and computer issues have slowed my blogging down a bit but I couldn't not post that Price finally lost his first tooth yesterday! Six months ago the dentist told Price that the bottom two were loose and he should be wiggling them but Price wanted to just let them take their own time coming out, even when one was hanging on by almost nothing! He has been proudly showing off his new gap!

Brynn wrote her name for the first time today on her cousin Josh's birthday card and had all five letters there with 2 of them readable! Great progress! Now if only I could convince her that 6 does not come after 4...

Evan has done nothing but talk football the past two days and have I mentioned that he now sleeps with his blankie and two footballs? He is obsessed!! Doug has learned to play football with him while he is running on the treadmill... I haven't seen that first hand but Doug says it makes the miles go by faster.

And Caleb is continuing to work hard at school... this is the first year that not everything has come with minimal effort, especially in science, but he has been studying hard and got a 90 on his last science test. Go Caleb!!! I got to go on his field trip with him earlier this month and it was nice to spend some time with him on the busride where we could chat without as much interruption. That doesn't happen very often around here.

Kate

A busy week...

It has been a long week... at least for me. So just a few pictures. Gotta get prepared for our 8K race tomorrow - our longest and it will be the coldest so far. Running is hard enough in warm weather!

Price and Caleb's last soccer games were on Saturday. This was the first season ever that I never got tired of games and practices and never once wished it was over. Both boys had coaches that were wonderful and both boys improved a lot and loved playing, looking forward to every practice and game. That was a true blessing! Caleb scored a goal in the last game and Price was chosen to receive his team's Golden Ball award (may have to edit this later 'cause I am not sure that is the right name) which is a soccer ball that all the kids sign that is given to a player who was a great teammate, a good leader and listener, and had a great attitude. He was humble when his name was announced but I know he enjoyed the recognition and his smile as he was congratulated by his teammates and the parents was just beautiful.

Evan had his birthday party at a local restaurant over the weekend and it was a madhouse but fun with all the friends there. Somehow his birthday turned into a week of events but now we are birthday free until March... not that the holidays aren't crazy here!

Brynn has been going around the house the past few days singing a song that repeats the same one sentence over and over and over and saying she is a rock star. I have a video but no pictures and I don't know how to do videos on a blog yet. So here is a picture of her earlier this evening during her hour-long bath. The girl loves the water. And tonight she is sporting pink fingernails... she only likes girly stuff 1% of the time so I gotta go with it when she shows interest!

Good night!
Kate

Happy Birthday Evan!

It is so hard to believe that it has been 4 1/2 years since the doctor told me on a Friday that I wasn't pregnant only to have the ultrasound technician tell me on Monday that I was 13 weeks along!! As pay back for me missing the whole first trimester of his existance, Evan has made it his personal mission to make sure I always know he is around. He's gone from screaming fits and no sleep the first year through the last three filled with endless energy, requests to play ball, and a zillion questions! And along the way, he has made us laugh and laugh, even when we shouldn't. And today, well lets just say that he knew he was the King of the castle... "But I'm the birthday boy" was heard at least once an hour.

Happy birthday Evan!!!! This is your big year for you now that you are finally old enough to play t-ball after years of having to watch others play sports and wanting to join them; now you just have to wait until June for the season to start! But you are on your way to your big dream... to play every sport! We love you are are so proud of you!

Hugs and Kisses!
Mommy & Daddy

Halloween Madness!

What a fun, chaotic evening! Evan enjoyed it the most and if we hadn't run out of houses, he would have gone all night long. He was mad when it was over. Brynn was excited to go, a grump as soon as we went, and about a half hour into it, well, see the pictures below...

Here is the gang right before the much anticipated start time...


The more the merrier! Ready, set, go...


Carter and Brynn, the envy of all the walkers, adults included...


I thought Carter was a princess, not a pillow!

The life of 3-year olds...

I know this story won't translate as well into text but I need to write it down… it was way cute in real life.

We had a great time at a friend's Halloween party yesterday. Near the end of the night there was a back door visitor… a relative of the party host and the large horse she rode to the party. Many of the kids jumped at the chance to pet the horse. Evan said no and ran back inside but after a while, told me he would like to. At that point it was just the horse, rider, Evan and I since everyone else had gone back to the festivities inside. Evan pet the horse and then boldly asked the rider how the horse got to the party (his desire to process something in his mind was greater than his tendency to not speak up around strangers). "He rode here," she answered. "How did you get here?" he asked the rider. "I rode here too," she answered. Very loudly and clearly amazed and confused, a wide-eyed Evan replied, "How big is your car??"

On another note…

This morning Brynn and Evan, dressed nicely for church, decided that they both needed to wear their Washington Nationals hats so they matched and each carry a stuffed animal bunny. How could I say no?? It was so cute to see them getting along so well… they even fussed because they could not sit together in the car (they are separated because the adults in the car finally had enough of their fighting a few weeks ago). Often I question our thought process when we decided to have "virtual twins" and the effects doing so have had, and will have, on the two of them, but at least for today, well, for those two hours, it was all good!

A joyous reunion...

It's been two months since Evan's beloved blankie went missing. The adjustment to it being lost didn't take long, though once in a while a slight "I miss my blankie" whine would come out. Well today, an excited Evan emerged from his room clutching his most prized possession... you would have thought he found a $1,000,000 winning lottery ticket in the dark depths behind the bunk beds.

He hasn't let it out of his sight since but I know there will be days to come where we frantically have to search every crevice of the house to find his well loved, could-be-mistaken-for-a-rag, blankie again. I will have to revisit this post to remind me that the search is worth it.

What makes me laugh is Evan has not sucked his thumb since the day after his blankie went into hiding. And about an hour after he found it, the thumb was in his mouth. Evan, the blankie, and the thumb... three old friends reunited!

What color is your light saber?

It's been very busy around here for the past week... work wise and play wise. So no new this-week pictures. I was reminded this weekend (thanks PaPa) that I never put up pictures of the older boys on the day the Halloween costumes arrived so here are a few. Caleb is Obi Wan Kanobi and Price is Annakin Skywalker, for those of you that aren't up on your Star Wars trivia. At least these two are on the good side!

A trip to the pumpkin patch...

The preschool headed to the pumpkin patch today... lots of animals, beautiful pumpkins, terrible directions, great weather and fun with friends! What a great day!

Three silly kids forced to pose for their parents when they would rather be eating or picking pumpkins or playing at the playground.

The rope swing in the barn... Evan loved it, Brynn did not.

Well, you know the ones closest to the tractor are never the best mom... you gotta go a mile back in the patch and pass 1,000 identical orange pumpkins to truly find the best one.

The hayride back from the patch...

I can't explain why she chose yellow instead of orange (then again, that's Brynn for ya') but I am sure she picked the smallest pumpkin around so mommy wouldn't struggle carrying it to the car! :)

Halloween Preview!

Evan's costume finally arrived today so the little ones finally were allowed to try on their halloween costumes.

First is the costume I planned for Brynn... Dora the Explorer... inexpensive, simple, cute.

Brynn had other ideas when she saw the catalog of costumes so here she is.... "Wonna Whoa-man" (or Super Woman when she can't remember the Wonder part).

From simple to bright pink, lots of shine, a bouncy purple skirt, and "thigh high" boots (which to my delight, and I am sure her dad's too, are actually butt high on Brynn). She has the pose down well don't you think?



And lastly, here is my baby boy. From a cute little baseball player last year to the dark side this year. Sniffle, sniffle. But he loves it. Sigh.

Sweet Treats!

Here are a few of my favorites for this week's Loving Lydia photo challenge, Sweet Tooth...Brynn at Price's party in March, Brynn helping me make brownies this summer, Evan when he first discovered the joys of unlimited candy for breakfast on Easter morning, and one of my favorites of them all on one of the first days after Brynn's adoption. I am guessing that when I only had two kids and was a newbie to motherhood, I had the time and need to feed my family healthier so that is why I have so few "sweet" pictures of the older ones... HA! More likely instead of taking pictures I joined them in eating the sweets and now I have to share with too many people so I fill my hands with the camera and plan when I can selfishly sneak sweets when no one is around!

What makes them who they are...

This week's FFFF Challenge from Loving Lydia is "Personality Shots." I dug into the S archives for some of these but what fun it is to visit back in time!

Brynn = Smiles and Silliness:

Price = Loving

Evan = The Serious Thinker (now old enough to ask the zillion questions behind those eyes) and Determined

Caleb = Creative

School Picture Day

Last night we carefully picked out Price's outfit for school today since today was picture day and these would be his first school pictures. And as much as I hate to admit it (it so pains me to type this), I paid to have his pictures "airbrushed" because they are his kindergarten ones, he has a huge scrape under his nose, and he is the most "appearance conscious" of my kids. Caleb's picture, on the other hand, will proudly display his cheek scratch and his black eye.

Today Price came home from school proudly wearing the "prize" he picked from the treasure box in his class.

Should I be worried? At least his new nose covers the scrape, but in that case, I wasted $6 on the airbrushing!

Kate

A few changes...

It has been a busy week... and just to make it a bit busier, I was inspired by my friend Denise's new blog layout so I decided to fancy ours up a bit. I also decided that I have had enough of the first initial thing so let me introduce (not that their names were ever well kept secrets anyway) Evan, Caleb, Price, and Brynn, pictured here surrounding their daddy. At least daddy doesn't have a cheesy grin on his face...

Some highlights from this week... Price scored his first soccer goal today, and then another, and then another, and then, well, one more! Very exciting. Caleb played a very aggressive game today, though his team was not as successful. Evan and Brynn had a good week at preschool, though Brynn is truly in the middle of being three years old... having as many tantrums daily as Price had goals today! The cutest moment of the week is compliments of Evan, who asked when I was driving through the bank's drive-up to get coin wrappers if we could order suckers!

I may not have taken pictures this week but Denise did. Check out the pictures of Brynn with the girls and Evan footballing with Nate!

Kate

Contests and Crankiness!

This week Ikea is sponsoring a photo challenge called America at Home and it has been fun trying to take pictures with the themes, though some I just can't do... heirlooms are short in supply at our house; dinner together, well sadly that is not happening much this week either; not sure exactly what a "sanctuary" looks like in a house jammed pack with kids; and I am off to work before the kids get up and I think the kids are lucky to get out of the house with shoes on so it is best not to leave Doug with an additional assignment to take pictures. I've been able to come up with some for the other days and I may try to fill in this weekend. Some of the pictures of the kids looked posed but they really happened this way... being blessed with beautiful weather this week helped. You can submit 3 pictures per theme (10 for the random so I still have a few more to go there).



I think the greatest thing about the challenge is I have pictures that prove to me my kids can get along, can have fun with each other, and can be darling 'cause the whine factor here lately has been off the scales!!!

Kate

FFFF - Snoozin'

This week's challenge from Loving Lydia is Snoozin' - here are a few:

First, this is B sleeping, taken in China by her foster family with the camera I sent after we had our pre-approval to adopt her. She is around 19 months old.

This is B again, the day after I met her in Nanchang. She was 2 years and 1 week old.

My favorite sleeping one of E at age 2 years, 3 month old. I am barely exaggerating if I say this is the first time he slept - I did not have many pictures to choose from since he didn't sleep for the first 10 months of his life, just cried and cried, and by the time he slept, I was too tired to take pictures. Not that I am still bitter or anything... ;)

I feel bad leaving the other two out but their sleeping pictures were before I went digital and the scanner is in the other room and I am just too darn tired. Someday...

Kate