Settling in

holy heck,,, my life feels like a whirlwind these days.  Ty is really doing wonderful, he is so sweet and it just seems like he has been around here forever. 

 Having a 5 1/2 year old that is just learning to communicate with the rest of us does add a whole new layer to the chaos around here though. 

  He has been begging to go to school every time we drop Mina off at preschool.  We have decided to put him into preschool instead of starting him in Kindergarten right away and I am hopeful we made the right decision. 

 He actually starts this Monday and I had to switch Mina's school as well so they could go to the same school on the same days... mama needs to keep it as simple as possible these days.  So prayers for an easy transition would be much appreciated.

   Finn and I have a date with our jammies, the couch, Dora, and some picture books on Monday morning after we drop our little busy bodies off at preschool :) 

  

I thought this was so funny..  Last year I posted HERE about some matching shirts I bought for the girls on clearance at Target...something I rarely do... When we pulled down our Fall decorations,  I found that I must of picked up another one and didn't even realize it.. How funny that I just happened to buy an extra 5T shirt, and I would have thought you were nuts if you told me we would ever adopt again.  Isn't that just how things go... somewhere I must have known...  Just made me smile when I unpacked it... so now we have our matching trio :)  

 And right after I say I never buy matchy matchy shirts for the girls....  I give you another Target clearance find that I just couldn't pass up... 

 Thanks for the tip Jaclyn...  these panda bear shirts are super cute:)

Now I need some mommy reassurance... is this normal because it is driving me absolutely bananas.  Ty and Mina have this obsessive need to carry as many toys/ things as possible.    I mean seriously an umbrella, a bouncy ball, a bear, a baggie full of baby wipes and a calculator.... this is a light load too.

Here's Mina with her hands full at the same time..  this is just how they walk around the house, they don't even have any plans to actually play with these things.. they will find something better and they may switch it out for something already in hand or find some way to add it to their load. 

Why is this making me nuts? Is it normal?  suggestions, comments?  i have been trying my hand at making them drop the majority of their junk into the toy box before leaving the house... cause really, i just can't keep track of all the STUFF.

Weekend update

Wow, what a week.  everything is still moving at a break neck pace 'round here.  For right now I am going to keep trying to post, but it may just be once a week as I am trying to rid my schedule of anything that is not completely necessary.  I am really trying my best to "be present"  with all the demands of the kiddos, and all is well unless I try to do something crazy like actually accomplish something.  I have a ridiculously short "to do"list for today, and my husband actually laughed at me when I told him of the 3 things I would like to accomplish today.. He's been home all weekend and he realizes..doing 3 things other than tending to the kiddos all day is a near impossibility these days.. but this blog post is one of 3 so..if I actually make it to the end and your reading this....it's a good day :) Here's a recap of this weekend..  

My boy turned 18!!  He requested the "ugly cake"  it is his favorite.  

Have you ever had "fried ice cream" from a Mexican restaurant?  This cake is my take on his favorite dessert.  Vanilla Ice cream, cinnamon, vanilla wafers, carmel and corn flakes.  It sure isn't pretty, hence why we have named it the ugly cake.  but it sure is yummy.  

We also have some family in town and we couldn't pass up a chance to take them to a nearby zoo/safari and soak up a perfect fall day. 

Kobi feeding a buffalo/ bison? Is there a difference?  I was calling it a buffalo then our buggy driver was telling us it was a bison.  

Me and my shadow :)  This is the song that goes through my head all day as Ty follows me around and hangs on my every move.   I have to give him some credit though, he really is starting to venture around the house a little bit with the other kiddos. 

The park had a super cool haystack maze...much more fun than the corn maze of last weekend. 

I love this stinkin' kid.  so sweet, so easy. so mellow. so funny.  a man of few words for sure. but when he does have something to say it usually is worth listening. (with the exception of his new passion..football and every stat about the game for the last 10 years)  

Mina's crazy Mama was chasing her and the gang through the maze, she was having a ball in the haystacks, that was until the kids got separated and she was lost for a full 4 minutes and terror ensued for my little anxious three year old.  All ended well, when another Mother, who was calmly walking through the maze with her children, found my baby and looked at me like I was the most immature mother ever.  

Then, Marc and the kiddos starting launching pumpkins,  who knew that could be so much fun!  See I guess Marc and I are both total kids at heart when it comes messing with the kiddos.  

It must just run in the family? 

Then yesterday us ladies had a fun day, or it least I did.  My Mother-in-Law, her sister, and their friend are also in town this week.  We have been having a ball.  Their friend Rosalba, lives in Colombia and has a restaurant there.  She is quite the chef.  I have always wanted to know how to make Spanish Empandas from scratch and I got an amazing cooking lesson yesterday.  Of course my Mom-in-law and Aunt had to translate but it was so fun.  The Empandas were so yummy.  I can't wait to make them again!  

Isn't she beautiful!  Our house felt very multi-cultural this week, with Spanish and Chinese being spoken all the time.  I just love that!   Of course Kobi jumped in on the action and was rolling, filling, and pressing Empanadas like a pro in no time.  

This is the real deal,  so good.  We also made some spicy fresh Ahi (which is pretty close to salsa)  to drown them in.  

Peace out y'all,  I'll plan on posting again next weekend unless there is something that just can't wait or I find a few hours laying around here or there... also really want to finish Ty's gotcha video.  I am almost done, and I love it.  It makes me cry every time I watch it back,,which of course  how I know its good :)

So obviously I am slacking on the blog.. it has been at the very bottom of my to do list. Hence my ubber long catch-up post. We have had a great week. It is so amazing to watch Ty as he experiences so many firsts. We are running on Christmas morning excitement and energy level 24/7 around here.

 We went to the pumpkin patch/ corn maze a few nights ago and the kids all had a great time. 

I can't believe how well Mina is doing with the transition of adding another kiddo.  Bringing Finn home rocked her little world last year, so I was quite worried this time around, but she hasn't skipped a beat. 

It was so fun to watch Ty go from being scared of the petting zoo, to ecstatic about feeding them within 10 minutes.  We have been seeing that a lot.  

We get this full out smile and giggle 20 times a day for things as simple as baking a cake or swinging on a swing, or jumping on the trampoline, or playing pl@y dough.....

I can't believe what a sweet boy he is.  I will admit that we had a few melt downs in China that flipped me out a bit. It is so funny, knowing him now, knowing his fears and how he ticks.  It all makes sense.  He is such a blessing. 

More firsts.... So Ty had obviously never been near a bike.. he started with a tricycle/ hotwheel and moved up to a real bike within 2 days.  He is so proud of himself... and if you tell him that he should be embarrassed of the pink helmet I will be really upset.  He could c.a.r.e...less!  

A lot of time of our weekends is spent like this.  We had signed Mina up for a team because she was begging to play, but she chickened out.  

Even though Jack's games are a little intense, Ty sat and watched the game and kept pointing to himself and pointing to the field...

so I made a call and asked if Ty could play in Mina's spot.

Now realize that 3 days before this, we were playing soccer in our front yard.. Ty would grab the ball, line it up touching his foot and more like push it with his foot- not kick it.

But when we put those cleats and shin guards on him,,, he lit up like a Christmas tree.  He doesn't care which goal he's kicking it into,,, just that he gets a chance to kick it :)  

I thought this was funny... 2 weeks home and he is looking like the typical American kiddo...soccer jersey & a wrist full of silly b@nds...

Then he jumped back on the field and mid play he spots my camera.. he had to stop and give me the "peace fingers"  which is a true China move :)

Another favorite.... he could do this all day long!  The trick is to get him to hold the wheel at the perfect angle to keep them going in a big circle.. other wise you'd be chasing him around like a crazy person.  

Now for my keeping it real photo...  So we have learned that Ty is ridiculously sensitive..  A trait that he did NOT show us at all in China.  When we went to the pumpkin patch, the girls were throwing horse shoes.  Ty got excited picked up a horse shoe and jumped in front of them.  To which I responded by screaming "Ty W.A.I.T" for fear he was about to get clocked in the head.  He thought I was yelling AT him so he sulked for the next 15 minutes and had tears rolling down his face. Of course I can't explain that I didn't want him to get hurt, so he was broken hearted.  This happens a few times a day, when you say things like "no, you can't do that", I know- how dare I.  Although communication has been much less of an issue than I expected, it will be great when we understand each other.

Here is the photo of Ty sulking while I am trying to take my annual kiddos in the pumpkin patch photo.  I'm sure my screaming "look at me"  "over here"  "say cheese"  "say Ice-cream"  "look at me"  didn't help matters.  No seriously, my kids always sit amongst the pumpkins perfectly posed and smiling at the camera.  I would never sound like that :)

We are back among the living!!

 Yesterday was the first day I felt human past noon :) What a great feeling. Ty is doing so much better than I ever thought imaginable. He is such a ray of sunshine, the most loving little boy I have ever known. The kids are all really doing great together. Adopting out of birth order really worked well for all of them.. Finn remains the baby of our family and she really fits that role,I fear that she loves it a bit too much :) Mina loves playing "up" so I don't think she is nearly as threatened by the addition of another child as she was when we brought Finn home. Kobi and Jack are so go with the flow they love their little bro. Jack was expecting an instant play-mate and Ty just isn't at his level yet so I think he is the only one who is a little off his game. The best thing to see is Collin and Ty together... I just love it. Ty loves Collin and it is great to have a translator around when he gets home from school.

Can't you see the love? 

   

I'm still having some computer/ photo issues and my entire iphoto library is lost somewhere in my hard drive... I am scared to delete any photos off my camera and I am outta memory space until I work it out, so I haven't been taking nearly the amount of photos I expected... just haven't had the where-with-all to try to figure it all out...  plus I'm not that great at that kinda thing anyhow... I'll just start pushing buttons until it works itself out or I find myself in a bigger mess (I think that is exactly what the instruction manual would say to do if I ever took a sec to read it).  The only plus is that instead of photos, I have been taking a ton of video... I can't wait to start Ty's gotcha video.. I already have the music picked out.. Now I just need to carve 17 hours outta my day to stare at my computer screen :) 

Ty thought this bowl was about the coolest thing ever.  I am going to kinda miss being able to thrill him with the little things.
Now for some advice or assistance on the mundane... So we have been to the Great Wall 3 times in 3 years... pretty amazing.  From the first go around I really wanted a photo of me and my man together, no kids on the "wall".  Every time we have tried, every time failed at getting a good one.  This time no different... we are wearing ratty t-shirts and look pretty beat.. i can handle that, because it is reality.. but I really want that other guy out of the photo..he's just a little to close to make the photo frame worthy... anyone know if it is possible?  

Nevermind... thanks Misty, you da bomb!!

peace out from the land of love and chaos :)