Our Family, Our Story

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 :)