Kindergarten Graduation

A bittersweet day for a mom. Kindergarten graduation. Having two graduate at the same time was tough - I can't begin to imagine what high school graduation will be like. I won't think about that now.
Their part was "J is for jingle - a bell makes that sound. J is for jet that flies all around". They were by far the most talented kids up there. :)
My dad has the really good pics...I'll have to get those and post them later.

This was a shining moment in my career as a mom. I had on my calendar that Kindergarten Graduation was at 1pm. Scott had arranged his work calendar to be there, and my parents were planning to come as well. I planned to get up to school super early to get front row seats - we are, after all, the only family with 2 graduates! I got the kids all dressed up and sent them off to school. I was in my PJs washing dishes when I got a call from the kids' teacher around 8:30am. Ms. Herndon said, "Halle Grace says that you believe the graduation is this afternoon. You know that it's at 9:00 this morning, right?"
Uh, no. NO!
I threw on some clothes and made phone calls as quickly as I could. We all made it - even Scott made the 30 minute trek and didn't miss more than 5 minutes. We were, however, nowhere near the front row.
Whew! It was one of those days I was SO glad to have a "type A" daughter!

Halle Grace's Cinderella performance

At the end of May, Halle Grace's ballet class got to perform in their ballet company's Cinderella production. Her little group of ballerinas were forest fairies who came out and danced while the fairy Godmother worked her magic for Cinderella. They did such a great job! Just getting all dolled up was enough to make our girly-girl's whole year! :)



And if you just can't get enough ballet (or if you're an adoring family member who wasn't there)...I'll attempt to load the video.
Sorry - no luck. I'll try it through Slide.com.
Stay tuned (I know you're on the edge of your seat - don't fall off!)

New House Nesting

The nesting bug has finally hit. You know that excitement that gets your adrenaline pumping for things like painting and sewing and hanging pictures? I has been worried that it wasn't coming. But with the trip and the end of school activities, I think the nesting bug just took a little longer to hit me.
Yesterday, I stayed up until 3am painting my kitchen island! I know, I'm crazy. But it looks great and it's DONE! I've also started texturing over the kitchen wallpaper and have a couple of paint colors on the walls to see which one I like best. The next big kitchen project is painting the rest of the cabinets. The island is a different color, so it was easy to start there. The rest of them is an overwhelming project that I've been dreading, but I'm finally getting the motivation to get it done. I love painted kitchen cabinets. I think they hold so much more charm than stained cabinets. I took a "before" picture that I'll post in a bit.
I've also started cutting out sewing projects. I have literally BOLTS of fabric waiting for me to turn it into 8 curtains and 6 pillows. Who wants to come help? (come on, Renee!!!) :)
Scott will be worried when he hears my other project. There is a giant tree/bush of some sort that is taking over the front of out house. Scott is out of town and I got out there last night with the saw and "trimmed" it up good. He he! Grant helped me break up some of the limbs so it would fit in the trash truck. It was the hugest pile of limbs and branches that we have ever put out. We were returning home from Art Camp this morning when I saw the poor trash men trying to get it all in the truck. I was too embarrassed to pull in and have to acknowledge them dealing with my big mess, so we drove around the neighborhood for a bit. Ha! When we came home, it was all gone. The house has a whole new look after my little "trim". You can actually see the front of it now! :)
I'm off to take a break and watch Bedtime Stories with the kids. We're having a campout in the playroom!

The Past Month (or so) in Pictures...Part 1

Halle Grace's one-year homecoming celebration...

Some of my faves from Hawaii...















We stayed in Honolulu with our long-time friends, the Pinkstons. Then we were off to the Big Island! We stayed at the Hilton Wiakoloa Village (which is incredible!). We are not "resort" people, and this was a first for us. We had an amazing time (but we'll be back in a condo next time). I got suckered into one of those time-share sales calls last Fall. They made us an offer we couldn't refuse at this resort, so we jumped on it! We got an awesome vacation for a steal of a deal, but had to sit through a time-share pitch for a couple of hours (which we turned down...WHO actually buys those crazy time shares??!!). We've never done anything like that before. This one was definately worth it!
We enjoyed the beaches as the Big Island - great sand, prefect boogie-boarding waves, and amazing snorkeling (we swam with sea turtles AND a shark!). We were disappointed that we couldn't see the volcano erupting. The lava flow changes course all the time, so there's no predicting what you'll be able to see. When we were there, the lava was flowing in an inaccessible area. There were lots of interesting craters and steam vents in the National Volcanos Park, which was neat to see (but Yellowstone is better for that sort of thing, in our opinion).
We got to taste Kona Coffee and macadamia nuts right off the tree - we visited a quaint little farm on the Kona coast and got a great tour from the owner. He let us pick nuts and avacados to take with us - yum!
We also got to visit a true black sand beach. This sand is formed when hot lava hits the sea water and crystalizes into this incredibly fine sand. It was raining when we got there, so we didn't stay long, but the kids got build sand castles for the sea turtles. :)

Hawaii is such a special place - truly a masterpiece of God's creation. Everyone should see it at least once...

Next post - Kindergarten graduation and the last day of school.

I'm back!

I can't believe how long it's been since I've written!!! It's shameful, truly. Can I blame my husband who wanted to put the computer upstairs? That's a lot of extra effort to get on the computer, don't you think?
Well, our boxes are unpacked, school's almost out, our vacation has come and gone,
company has come and gone, illnesses have come and gone. I can see the light at the end of the tunnel that has been moving / the month of May in general.

I will be back with pictures of our latest adventures, but here's a quick recap.
The move is done and this place is starting to feel like home. Every once in a while, I still accidentally drive to our old neighborhood when heading home, but not lately. :) I still don't have anything on the walls, which is not like me at all. I am intimidated by the soaring ceilings and it's making me much less of a risk-taker than I normally am with decorating. I do have all of my fabric for curtains...bolts of it waiting for me to fire up the sewing machine. Whew. I'm tired just thinking about that! There are lots of projects looming in my future - I'll have to pace myself so I don't get too burned out!
Anyone want to come paint cabinets with me? Tempting, I know...
If you know me very well, you know that I will have a really hard time posting photos of the house until it's at least partially decorated. Sorry! :) Soon, though...
I have been subbing a couple of days a week- which is winding down now. It's fun to get back in the teaching world every now and then. Makes me wonder what my future career path will look like... I'd love one of thoes non-classroom jobs - ESL or GT or librarian? How does one land a gig like that? Being a classroom teacher with three kids at home seems impossible sometimes. And stressful, too.
Hug your kid's teacher - they work incredibly long hours, and it's not an easy job.

Next... We just returned home from Hawaii! We went to Ohahu and the Big Island and had the BEST time! I didn't want to come home. The kids were in Heaven. I've got great pictures that I'll post when I get a little time. We took them out of school all last week (such rebels, aren't we?). Don't scold me - their make-up work is ALL DONE! With Scott working for an airline and the stand-by nature of our travel, we can't travel easily when everyone else travels. Hence the May vacation. It was well worth it! Halle Grace LOVED the beach, Grant and Scott stumbled upon a big reef shark with snorkeling, and Scott, Garrett, and I snorkeled with sea turtles. We also built sand castles, picked macadamia nuts, saw the erupting volcano (from a distance - and I mean DISTANCE), ate Hawaiian shave ice, went to a Luau, hiked to a waterfall, boogie boarded, and spent time with good friends in Honolulu. A great time was had by all. LOVE that place.

The next several days are full of Halle Grace's ballet production - Cinderella (rehearsal every night this week - ughh!), Grant's football playoffs, end-of-year parties, and Kindergarten graduation. So.... I most likely will not be back upstairs to get on the computer until next Wednesday (the last day of school).
See you then (if there is anyone left even checking this... :)

One Year Home Today!

I put together a slideshow of Halle Grace's first year with us. The computer was extra slow tonight, so they are not in chronological order after the first few... :)

How blessed we feel today! Thank you, Lord!

A Happier Post...

Time for something a little cheerier, don't you think? :)
We are MOVING! It's crazy around here, but I knew if I didn't stop and blog now, it would never get done. We close on our new house on Tuesday and we'll start moving in slowly - hopefully to be finished after next weekend. I can't remember what I've posted about the house, but we are so excited about it! We love the neighborhood - it's small, full of kids, and right by the elementary school (the kids can walk!). The kids will have to switch schools, which is a bummer. But they will finish out the year at Liberty. They already have some friends at the other school (Hidden Lakes) from church and other activities, plus they'll meet lots of new friends in the neighborhood - they'll be fine. It's a great school and we know we'll be in good hands. Halle Grace's ESL teacher goes to Hidden Lakes as well as Liberty, so she's excited about that. The house is 2-stories, which is new for us - that is such a novelty for kids (not so much for me:). It's pretty much move-in-ready, which is so nice. We are changing a few things to make it our own, but it's in great shape.
I'll post pictures of it soon.

In other news, tomorrow is Halle Grace's first Homecoming Day! There are lots of different ways people celebrate adoptions - some celebrate the day they met their child, or the day the judge made them a family, or the day they picked up their child from the orphanage(known as "Gotcha Day"). For us, although all of those days were memorable, the day that stands out the most was the day Halle Grace arrived home for the first time. We were met at the airport by family and friends and it was the sweetest sight I'd seen in a long time! Halle Grace could hardly wait to see her daddy (who came home after court), and the way she ran into his arms that day is one of our most treasured memories. This was the day we were all united for the first time as a family. To celebrate, we're planning a big family dinner at a Hibache restaurant (great idea, Paras!), followed by cake (I love any excuse to make a cake!). Some dear friends gave Halle Grace a James Avery charm bracelet when we brought her home, and we got her a new charm for it as a gift. I think we'll do this each year on this day.

What a year it's been! I can't believe how much fun we've had with this precious little girl. She has brought a breath of fresh air to all of us. She has come so far and has endured more change than any kid I know without batting an eye. She has completely learned English, and unfortunately, completely forgotten Russian. She has learned to read, count, swim, ride a bike, ride a scooter, fish, camp, host tea parties, paint, build forts, love American food, pray, love God, love her family, love mint chocolate chip ice cream, jump on the trampoline, gymnastics, ballet, learned to make new friends...and much more...all in one year. That's quite an accomplishment, don't you think? It's amazing the way God brought her to us, and how she fits so perfectly. She talks occasionally about her life with her "bad mommy" (that's what she calls her), and at the orphanage, but it's very matter-of-fact. She just seems to be able to completely comprehend that that life is over, and now she is with the family she was meant to be with, and that's it! She sometimes gets sad when she describes experiences from that time, but she has never had a nightmare about it, nor has it affected her emotionally in any way. I believe that the Lord has healed her hurts - and I think she knows that too. Praise God for the way he moves mountains and works miracles!

Last week, on the way to church, Halle Grace blurted out that she believes God is real. How precious is that?! I could almost see God smile.

Happy Homecoming Day, Halle Grace! We love you!