November Update

I guess I missed October somehow...:?

Here's the long and short of it.

I think I almost died of mastitis maybe. I'm pretty sure I actually had blood poisoning at one point. It was horrid.

We spent 11 or 12 days in Georgia while I recuperated. I lost count.

The kids are wild and crazy. Landon told me to make them do push-ups for any infringement on house rules from whining to shirking responsibility. Noah said "We're all going to be in really good shape".

We are enjoying a lovely fall. The kids and I ditched the books at 11:00 and took a two hour walk. I let them drag me around and show me their favorite haunts and then we stopped by the park to swing before going to the neighborhood nature preserve which is really just a paved trail through the trees. There are no bear or bald eagles being preserved there. Maybe the occasional squirrel.

Speaking of squirrel, Noah recently shot and ate his first squirrel. Roasted it right over a fire in my parent's front pasture along with cousin Austin, who also shot and ate his first squirrel. I politely declined the offer of a taste.

Solomon's reading is coming along better. I love his laugh. It's infectious.

Silas is over halfway done with 3rd grade math. He's always a fun kid to have around for so many reasons.

Micah is so.....Micah. He found a pair of nerd glasses without lenses while we were out walking today and he loves them. I think they were a discarded part of some one's Halloween costume.

Lyra doesn't like school anymore. I think it's because she doesn't have to do it if she doesn't want to so she likes to rub that in the boy's faces.

Karys is adorable beyond words. She STILL wont sleep through the night though and the sleep deprivation is catching up with me. I am going to have to work on that one of these days.

Landon and I are getting old. We noticed it the other day when we were standing in front of the mirror getting ready for church.

Well, have a lovely fall!:)

September update

Well, this month, life has calmed down to a nice crazy routine.

We get up, eat breakfast, do chores, do school, eat lunch, clean the house, play, eat supper, play and go to bed. During all this, I nurse the baby, do the laundry, change the baby, make the meals, put the baby down for naps, do daily house cleaning, smile at and talk to the baby, supervise school, rock the baby, tell the kids to hold the noise level to a dull roar, carry the baby around.....

I find myself praying "Lord, don't let me forget anything important." I feel like I am going from sun up to sun down.

Karys is still not sleeping through the night consistently, but that's okay because I just put her in the bed with me to nurse and then I go back to sleep. She sleeps with me until I wake up enough to put her back in her cradle. She is absolutely adorable - smiley, fat and totally cuddly. Her favorite things to do (besides nursing) are look at one hand while she sucks on the other one. She also LOVES getting a bath and gets so excited when she knows she is getting ready to get in the tub with Lyra.

Lyra is still the worlds best big sis. She is doing well with her school, learning letter sounds and practicing counting things and writing down how many. We just spent a weekend in NW Ga with the Warchols (buddies from our time in Ukraine- they adopted Olena from the same groupa Lyra was in) and Lyra and Olena had lots of fun playing together.

Solomon is the worlds cutest six year old, I am sure (mom's UNbiased opinion:):)). He is now a Tiger Cub and he loves it. His academics for the year include reading/phonics, 1st grade math, spelling, geography, Bible and memory work and handwriting. He doesn't really like school and heaves a big sigh when he has to sit down. He would rather wiggle. I give him lots of "recess".

Silas continues to make us laugh with his fantastic stories and imaginations. He is also doing Cub Scouts this year and he loves it as much as Solomon does. He is breezing through 3rd grade and will be done with his math book in 15 weeks if he continues on the present course. I already bought the 4th grade book for him so I'm ready:)

Micah is turning into the most generous, kind, thoughtful young man right before my eyes. He is always there to lend me a hand when I need it. He is taking to fractions like a duck to water but he still doesn't like creative writing. I am structuring it more this year and he wants a free hand (which he'll get in a few months). The other day, he put his finger over Karys's top lip- mustache style- and said "Hey! Karys looks like Hitler". I said "That's not a very nice thing to say about a sweet baby!" and he said "well she's not a Darwinist so she won't act like him". I thought that was pretty profound for a 10 year old. He is also doing Scouts this year and is a second year Webelo.

Noah is practically grown:(. He is just a few inches shorter than I am now and his foot is longer than mine. He is pretty much entirely self-educating now. I just ask if he needs help (the answer is usually "no") and check his work. He paces himself to finish school on time every day, doesn't argue nearly as much as he used to and helps out extra without complaining most of the time. He started Boy Scouts when the younger boys started Cubs. Their Den/Troop is sponsored by a Presbyterian church in our city and we love it. They all meet on the same night at the same time so it gives them each something to do with a group of kids their age and Landon takes them most of the time. Can you see me grinning like the Cheshire cat???

Landon is preparing for a huge work training session over the next few months. He is also doing home maintenance and repairs- like painting the front door, etc. Right now, he is sitting at the dining room table doing a sudoku puzzle. The house is so quiet that you could hear a pin drop. All the children are sleeping and I'm off to bed soon.

And that's it for the September update:).

The monthly update

We are all still alive. School is crazy with a newborn and we have had some pretty rough days. When Landon called home before he left work yesterday (he does that to see if we need him to bring anything home with him) and I told him that I was doing "Great!", he asked me if the kids were all still alive. I think I must take issue with that....:):):).

Anyhoo. I may or may not get around to posting pictures. Keeping up one blog is hard enough these days.

More invitations are out. If you still didn't get one, e-mail me again or leave a comment. I am trying to do this while dealing with Screechy Dwarf (aka Karys).

Invitations are out- check your inbox

I sent out invitations to our private blog. If you asked for one and didn't get one, please re-send your e-mail addy. I may have accidently skipped you. If you are a family member or close friend of the family and you didn't get an invitation, please send me your e-mail addy since I have several addresses for several people in my contacts and may have sent an invitation to the wrong address.

All that to say this. If you didn't get an invitation to our private blog, and you want one, e-mail me.:)

Changes with the blog

I keep trying to get in here and do this right, but there is no time so I am just going to do it anyway.

I am not going to be blogging here anymore. However, I don't like it when people just quit blogging without letting me know (grin) and we are also a reference for Kostya (our adoption facilitator) so I am leaving this blog up and I will be posting a general update once a month - with pictures, if I can find time to put them up.

For the relatives and friends of the family, I will be sending you an invitation to our private blog where I will start journaling our days again. I've been trying to figure out a way to make this all work (not going in to detail for lack of time) and this seems to be the best of both worlds.

For those of you who I have built online friendships with - meaning that I have talked to you on the phone or corresponded with you via e-mail- I will be happy to send you an invitation as well if you let me know you want one. However, if you are as busy as I am, a once-a-month update will be plenty and then you won't feel obligated to read about what we ate for breakfast!:)

I will still be reading your blogs on occasion, but my extra time is now GONE so I can't guarantee that I will always leave a comment when I stop by.

Just so you know, we are doing great so this has nothing to do with any crisis. I have simply been looking for a good stopping place for this blog for some time and I feel like this is as good as any.

We'll still be here - just not as often:).