Things I need to write down so I don't forget...

Garrett said in his preschool graduation that he wants to be a pilot when he grows up. This week, in the car, he asked me what a pilot was again. I told him that they fly the airplanes.
Garrett: "Oh yeah! Who are the ones who pass out the drinks?"
Me: "flight attendants. Like Dee."
Garrett: "Ohhhh! Do they get to have drinks and snacks after they pass them out?"
Me: "yes"
Garrett: "then that's what I want to be. I know one thing - I do NOT want to be a builder-guy because they have to work every day."
Gotta love a good work ethic!

We went to a sporting goods store tonight to buy a birthday present for one of Garrett's friends. They had these Dallas Cowboy Christmas stockings on display (I know, weird...they weren't even on sale). Anyway, Halle Grace got so excited, took two off the rack, and put them on her feet! She had no idea what they are for. Good thing she's a fast learner... :) How FUN will Christmas be at our house this year???!!!

Out of the blue, on the trampoline today, Halle Grace started doing forward flips. She even landed on her feet sometimes! I had no idea she could do that. I don't think she did either.

Earlier this week, Halle Grace complained that her head hurt. I told her that she couldn't go to the water park the next day if she had a headache - too much sun would be bad for a headache. A couple of minutes later, she smiled and told us that God had made her headache all better! It was a miracle! ;)
(It was funny, but I LOVE that she has picked up already who our healer is!)

Grant is spending the night at Grandad and Dee's tonight. He and Grandad are designing a tree house for their backyard, and Grant is beside himself with excitement! Can't wait to see what they come up with.

No Fear!

This little Ukrainina/American of ours has no fear. Today we finally went to the water park. Here are the kids getting out of the car - ready to go! The boys and I have been getting season passes to NRH2O for ages (I think this is our 5th summer). I wondered how she would do - there are some pretty big slides there. Well she took it all like a true Hinshaw! She wanted to ride every slide over and over and showed no hesitation whatsoever. We were in line for this steep racing slide, and the middle-school-aged boys behind us kept making comments about how scared they were to ride it and how they couldn't believe "that little girl" is riding it!
Yes, our Halle Grace was in heaven today. We had so much fun and can't wait to go back! We saw some of our neighbors there and plan to meet them there a bunch this summer. :)

This is an overview of the water park. We rode just about everything - including the Green Extreme, which is like a water roller-coaster (SO FUN!).

More pics from our fun day!

Home about 6 weeks now

(Sorry the video's a little dark. It's dark and stormy here today!)Here's just a little sampling of how far Miss Halle Grace has come in her English. We have been home about 6 weeks now and she is speaking tons of phrases and many full sentences as well. She can almost always get her point across to us now, which is a huge difference. She has started taking words that she knows and forming her own sentences with them (rather than just memorizing the sentences we teach her). We are so proud of her!

She goes to Bible class at church by herself now (although she cries when we first take her, she gets over it quickly)...she's had her first sleepover (at my parents')...she learned to ride a bike (with training wheels)...she is well-bonded with her family...she loves to pray...she loves our food (finally!)...she loves dressing pretty...she has made several new friends...she has gained 2 pounds...she loves music, books, flip-flops, sweets, hair bows, cooking, and swimming...and she's made us all fall head-over-heels for her!

It's really hard to believe she hasn't always been with us. This morning, she was looking at some pictures from the past year, and kept asking where she was in the picture. I told her she was still in Mariupol. She kept saying "no". She doesn't grasp that we had a life and a family here before she came. It's getting harder and harder for me to grasp that, too!

Yesterday we went to see Prince Caspian with some friends. We loved it! Especially Grant - it was right up his ally. It was a little over Garrett's head and he got a little restless. Halle Grace did great. I'm sure this particular movie wasn't really her thing, but it was her first time at the movies and the experience itself was enough to entertain her. It was definitely more of a war movie than the first Narnia, but I really liked it.
We were supposed to go to the water park today for the first time, but it cooled down and started storming. Poor kids - they have been counting down the days! I think we'll head to the library instead.

Indiana Jones and Princesses

Many discussions on our house right now revolve around Indiana Jones and Disney Princesses. I have to hand it to Disney. They are just a bunch of marketing geniuses over there. They have my boys obsessed with Indiana (Grant's excitement over these movies come from the ride at Dinseyland! Garrett pretty much likes it because Grant likes it! :) We have shown them two of the old Indy movies, with our close supervision and actively using the fast-forward button when needed. And boy do those movies need it... :)

Halle Grace LOVES the Disney Princesses. Cinderella is her favorite, but this week she saw Beauty and the Beast for the first time, and loved that one too. She wants everything princess - bike, helmet, fruit snacks, band-aids, toothbrush, bubble bath. Marketing geniuses I tell you!

What is even more amazing is that these are the SAME movies Scott and I watched as kids. That's some serious miles on those movies! Who would have even thought that we would all be watching those same movies we loved as kids with our own kids. I wonder which ones will stick around for them to watch with their children?

Decisions

I made a big decision this week.

We have some friends that work at a local Christian school - one that we are interested in sending our kids to someday. Our friends told us there is a 6th grade opening this Fall. Our plan eventually, is for me to teach at a Christian school so our kids can attend there as well. This is not the timing we anticipated, but I love 6th grade! Their positions don't come available very often, so it was a big decision whether to apply or not.

After much prayer, we decided that this is not the time for me to go back full-time. I know that Halle Grace and Garrett are both going to need me quite a bit this year as they begin Kindergarten, and I just feel that I wouldn't have enough time to give them. I met with the headmaster of the school anyway and gave him my paperwork. I wanted him to know that I would like a future there at some point, but didn't feel that I could really put my heart into it this year. He was great about it - completely respected my decision. I feel like we hit it off well and hope that he'll keep me in mind for the next opening! I feel complete peace that this is the right choice for our family at this point. I can't make the decision to go back to work out of fear that this would be my only opportunity. I know the Lord will provide the right one when the time is right.

In the meantime, I am so blessed to be able to stay home with the kids, give them my full attention, volunteer at their school, etc. This has already been a big year, and I am happy to just have a low-key rest-of-the-year (low-key is a relative term...:)
And who knows what God will bring in the next few years!

Garrett, Halle Grace, and I just hung out this week. They have really had time to play with each other, and are so bonded. They will go off and play for hours! We also visited our city's new library - and it's amazing! Grant got a new Magic Treehouse book, which he read in two days. Garrett chose basketball books, and Halle Grace chose gynmastics books. We signed her up this week, and she is SO excited! She got a leotard as a gift from a neighbor, and she has been sleeping in it every night - dreaming of gymnastics! Funny girl! She starts in June, and she is counting down the days. Garrett has chosen a basketball camp this summer, and Grant is doing a football camp. Other than those, swim lessons and our church's VBS, thats about it for our summer. We plan on camping out at the water park or the pool most days. Can't wait!

Big week...

I don't think I've mentioned what my sweet husband got us for Mothers (and Fathers) Day. New patio furniture! We feel like we've added on to the house. The kids love eating breakfast out there, too. Thanks Honey!

Halle Grace's Highlight this week was getting her new bike! She started asking for one last week (or should I say crying for one). Grandad and Dee just happen to drop by on Monday with a princess bike for her! (and just in time for "bring your bike day" at preschool). She jumped right on and learned in no time! Just one spill, but she went right back on. By the next day, she was a pro. We continue to be amazed at her coordination and motor skills.

Grant's Highlight - Field Day at Liberty Elem. This was a greatly anticipated day, and they all had so much fun! I was so impressed with how organized it was. Our PTA is amazing, and they just went all out. Grant loves a party, so he was just in heaven. Halle Grace and Garrett went with me and loved playing on the playground with the other little siblings! They are both chattering about being in Kindergarten this fall and are so excited.



Garrett's Highlight - he got to have his cousin Tyler over to spend the night this week. They had the best time and can't wait to do it again! They are so cute together and truly are best friends. We can't wait to have him over again!

Saturday was one of those days that felt like a week. Lots of fun packed into one day. We started early with a garage sale at our back neighbors house. We put a few things in it, so we helped work the sale. The kids had a ball just playing and riding bikes and scooters. Garrett found a new friend that he grew very attached too. He even gave his new friend skateboard lessons (did I mention he got a skateboard last week? He's been begging for one, and we let him use his allowance money to buy one. He's quite the little dare-devil - already working on some tricks!).

Halle Grace loved playing outside with all the garage sale junk. She and Garrett made little forts out of old boxes. I am amazed at how often kids just love boxes. Why do we spend money on toys at all? :) Finally, after lunch, we called it quits and headed home to rest.
Then we headed to my parents' house for a big family cook out. My Grandma Prince is visiting from California and my sister's family came also. The kids had a blast in the pool (as usual). The water's getting a little warmer, but not quite enough for me! Halle Grace is getting braver in the water, and had so much fum paddling around in her ring floaty. I can't wait for her swimming lessons to start (in 2 weeks). Notice she is wearing arm rings AND a floaty. :)
Here's my sister with Halle Grace and Zoey.



Tonight at home, we had popcorn with M&Ms and watched Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (the original). We love that movie! Some classics just don't need to be remade.

Halle Grace is learning English so quickly - and she is truly adjusting and attaching like a dream. Garrett has been having a harder time than Halle Grace has. Poor little guy is trying to find his new place in the family now that he has this "twin" sister all of the sudden. He's always been our more sensitive one, and just seems to have a short emotional fuse lately (like pretty much any time he is told "no"). Any adoptive families have experience with this? He loves his sister, and for the most part, they are great playmates. We want to help him through this and give him the time and comfort he needs, but we also are trying to make it clear that fits and tantrums are not acceptable and will have consequences. He really is such a sweet-spirited kid - this is just not like him. Last week, when Halle Grace was crying for a princess bike, Garrett offered to buy her one with his allowance. How sweet is that? THAT's the Garrett we know and love. This fit-throwing, screaming kid is just not him. Ughhh!

One more thing to throw out into the blog world... I want to do some homeschooling stuff with the kids this summer. Garrett could use some practice to get him ready for school. His preschool wasn't terribly academic, so I'd like to help fill in the gaps. Of course, Halle Grace is starting from square one, so I'd like to work with her on just about everything. I am also looking for some independent ideas for Grant (Valerie sent me the Book Adventure site - THANKS! That looks great!). Any ideas, resources, suggestions? I'm thinking just an 1.5 to 2 hours, maybe 4 days a week.

Thanks and have a great Sunday!

First and Lasts

Another big first for Miss Halle Grace! She had a sleep over at my parents' house. They rotate, having each of the grandkids over to spend the night individually. Garrett had his turn last week, and Halle Grace has been asking for her turn ever since. We were really surprised that she was so excited about going, since she has wanted to stick close to us everywhere else. She does LOVE her "Babushka Dee" though! Last night was her turn and they invited Zoey too (my sister's 3-yr old daughter), and they went swimming, played, had a tea party, slept in Cinderella sleeping bags, and had pancakes for breakfast. She hasn't stopped talking about how much fun she had! So cute!

Today was Garrett and Halle Grace's last day of preschool. I am officially no longer a preschool-mom. It was sad saying goodbye to this part of my life. For almost 8 years, I have had young children at home (the fastest - but greatest - 8 years of my life). In just 3 months, they will all be in big-kid school. In 8 more years, they will all be teenagers! Everybody slow down PLEASE!