No excuses for me being MIA, except that life has happened! I have recently started back up with my graduate program, so for the last few months that has taken up most of my "free time"! Not really sure what "free time" is anymore! We are definitely keeping busy with work, home improvements and projects, school, and spending time with the kids.
Over the past few months, I was often reminded and given subtle hints by friends and family through e-mail or just chatting that my blog needs to be updated. I really hope I can get back in the routine of doing that as well as catching up with everyone else. I decided to start this new blog, as I was a little tired of the old; I needed something new, and my settings were crazy and I couldn't get them to cooperate! So, here we go...
I am happy to report that the kids are doing great. I never had a chance to blog about it before, but we were having a hard time with the girls getting along with Kyle, and vice-versa. I think all they needed was time, and now it is starting to come together nicely! They are fighting and playing like any typical sibling group! I remember a family that I spoke to before adopting Jessica and Erika, told me that it can take a good year to finally feel like you have been a family all along. During that first year each person tries to figure out where their personality belongs, where they fit in, and what role they play in the family. We are still figuring this out, and I am sure we will be for a while, but we have come a long way over the past 8 months.
Kyle at Easter:
I think Kyle was in shock for a while that he was not the only child anymore, while Jessica and Erika were trying to figure out why their 4 year old brother was such a high-strung, active boy that liked to torment! We experienced set backs in Kyle's behavior, however after a few "family council meetings" we are now moving forward in a positive direction. Kyle turned 5 in March, and will be starting Kindergarten in August. He is not a little boy anymore. Sometimes I wish he didn't speak English! He is becoming quite the comical-mouthy little guy! He responds mostly to questions with "what are you talking about?" with attitude! He also likes to tell me, "your crazy, mommy" with a big grin on his face. While mostly I dish it back to him, sometimes I am tempted to say "yes, you make me crazy!". I recently had to take away a few cartoons from his movie collection because they had bad words in it. I have to tell him no when he asks to watch them (spider-man), and I explain to him why. Now he goes around saying to everyone that Mommy says bad words! He is still learning how to put sentences together correctly, as you can see! We love Kyle to pieces, and he is our comical relief most of the time. He has a very busy personality, and LOVES to talk to anybody about anything.
Next to Kyle, Erika is quite the social-bug herself! She is full of life, and is always happy! Well, most of the time anyway! We have learned that she is the most vocal between her and Jessica. She is quick to be the life of the party, however can turn on a dime when something doesn't go her way. We have learned how to deal with this and it is getting a lot better! She is such a sweetheart though, and I just love to watch her with Kyle now. They both get along the best at the moment, and Kyle loves to hang around her. She loves to help mom and dad at any given time, whether it be chores around the house, or helping dad with the yard work. She loves school and church now! Erika has really good friends which I am thankful for!! That is one thing I stressed about in the beginning, but her friends are awesome and are very good examples to her. Erika has had A LOT of dental work done over the past 8 months, but she had a clean bill of health at her semi-annual check up, no cavities!!! I LOVE IT (and so does my bank account)! We had all her front teeth re-faced so now they are smooth and sparkly white! That really boost her confidence, and now she has a permanent smile on her face. She started out stressing about her dental appointments, but soon after started bugging me about making her appointments as soon as possible! Next up, braces...and she is extremely excited about this, yikes! She really has changed...
Jessica is our more reserved child. While she is not quite as vocal around most people, she has definitely come out of her shell at home! Jessica has had to put on a tough face most of her life, but it is good to see that she is finally relaxing a little bit and letting mom and dad take the role of "parenthood". We have to remind her from time to time that she is the child, and she just smiles and says okay. We are trying to teach her that it is okay to be a kid. She is learning. She has opened up a lot about her past, and it is good to see her talking about things. I think it helps her to move on. She also loves school and church! At home, she enjoys drawing/painting, and playing with Erika. Those two would be lost without each other!
Jessica's 8th grade graduation: Rijanna (her best friend), Jessica, & me
With school out now, we are trying to keep the girls busy. Right now, they are at our church girl's camp. It is five days long...this is the first time they have been anywhere without mom and dad, so I am anxious to hear how they did. They are both in gymnastics and love it. I told them this summer we would start piano lessons, as this is something they have been wanting to do. Jessica's cousin that is her age is coming down from Utah in a couple weeks, and both will attend another church camp, this time boys will be able to attend...this should be interesting! She has recently attended a couple church dances. She pretends to not like it, but she insists on going! It is all innocent though. She had a crush on a boy at school for the entire year, but she always told me that she "could not live with herself if she had to talk to him". Those are her own words. I like her having crushes like that...from a distance! She really has blossomed over the past eight months; she is a very beautiful young woman.
Jessica and Erika are into the Webkinz program lately. They can spend hours on the computer playing games, and buying items for their Webkinz animal's home. We have to cut them off from the computer at times, so they can take a break and do something active! Fortunately for me, the girls love to exercise. It is great having dedicated workout partners! From time to time Kyle will even join in.
Erika had her 12th birthday on May 15th, so we threw her a swim party with a bunch of her girlfriends from school. She shared it with her cousin, Josie, as it was her birthday also! Below are pics from the party.
Here are the birthday girls!
I love Arizona monsoon storms! They are a nice break from the oh-so-hot sun, and the water is much needed. We had our first "real" storm of the season a few nights ago, and Jessica and Erika had a fun time experiencing it! I had to get a few photos as this was a "first" for them.
Ken was attending a conference in Orlando the first week of July, so we decided to tag along and spend a few days at Disney World! I am a huge Disney fan, and LOVE Disneyland so this has always been a dream of mine to head to the bigger place. It is beyond huge and consists of maybe five different parks. You cannot just park-hop like you would at Disneyland, you have to take a taxi/shuttle and usually takes about 15 minutes to get from one to another. It was really hot and humid which made the kids a little irritable at times, but I was having a blast and could have kept going! Ken was able to spend the first day with us at Magic Kingdom, and then we were on our own! My friend, Sarah, came with which was a lot of fun!
