Memorial Day

I hope you were able to pause your day and in some way give honor and remembrance to those who have died for our freedom. We took Daniel to a Memorial Day service at Cave Hill cemetary. It was a good time for him to learn about the sacrifices that have been made for our freedoms.

We also planted a tomato plant. I thought this would be a good science project for Daniel this summer - to care for the plant and see how much it might grow:

And we did a little bit of swimming at the local pool. This child is an absolute fish - he loves the water!! I didn't want to put him in swimming lessons last summer and completely overwhelm him, but he is totally ready this summer. He has no fear. He approaches swimming the same way he has the rest of life - jumps right in with total enthusiasm!

On Saturday we went on a canoe trip. It was Daniel's first time in a canoe and he did great! He was a bit timid at first, but it was a beautiful day. We took a picnic, skipped rocks, splashed in the water and paddled 7 miles down the Blue River.

Kindergarten is done!!!

I am constantly marveling at this amazing boy and today is no exception. His year of kindergarten has come to a close. They had their 'graduation' today. Really it was just a small moment of being handed a certificate. That was about the extent of the graduation. But we're just so proud of him and all he has accomplished this year we could burst. It was so cute - when that curtain went up and all of the kids were there. They were all smiling and waving and we could see Daniel looking around saying 'where's mom and pop?'. When he finally saw us, he was all smiles and waving. Everyone at his school from his teacher, the assistant, the ESL teacher, the principal all just rave about what a smart boy he is. We've struggled here in the last few weeks with behavior and making good choices, but we just couldn't be prouder of this big boy....

All of the Kindergarteners (Daniel is on the back row - left side)

Getting his certificate:

With his teacher Mrs. Parr and the assistant Mrs. Stallings:


With the Principal, Mrs. Deeley:



It's been a great school year!

Winding down

We're just hanging in there - trying to survive until the end of the school year! Daniel has been on a frowny face streak since Spring Break. It is so frustrating! We talk about the rules, stand in the corner, lecture until we're blue, take away toys, write sentences, we just can't seem to straighten up and make good choices. Some days it is little things (talking in the bathroom, really?) and some days it is big things - hitting a kid, fighting the library, running out ahead of the class into the parking lot, throwing scissors - Yay! I went to the school to speak with Daniel's teacher on Friday. She said it's not just him, it's the whole school! She said they all have summer fever and are just trying to hang on until school is out (2 weeks!). She said the whole class has been bad. Well, I guess that makes us feel a little bit better.

Other than that, we have been treasure hunting, going on family bike rides, sword fighting, playing baseball, playing Uno, reading books, and just staying busy. Academically Daniel is doing so great. He is actually reading!! We're so impressed. He reads everything - books, The Bible, the newspaper, there are words he knows everywhere and we love to hear him read. It's amazing!

We have to wonder if all of the punishments don't seem to faze him because life is just simply so great! He is in a family, we have fun no matter what, he knows he is loved - what could be better? So what if we take away his toys? Life is good!!

Happy 6th Birthday

Does it feel like we've been celebrating Daniel's birthday forever? Well, we were planning to have his birthday dinner and party last Friday. Babushka and Dadushka came down from Cincinnati for the big event. And then, 15 minutes before we walked out the door to go to the restaurant he spiked a 103 temperature! After some Motrin and some time, he was OK but we cancelled the party for that night. The best laid plans, right? So we left all of the decorations up and had our make up party on Thursday. It was still great fun and we capped off the evening by popping all 50 of our balloons. We sat on them, we stomped on them. The boys loved it! And now he is six. I tried to convince him to just stay five years old, but he wouldn't go for it.

The Kentucky Derby

Birthday Boy!

Daniel's birthday is tomorrow. I took cupcakes to Daniel's school on Thursday to celebrate. He was pretty excited!! His teacher said when moms come in for a birthday, she usually has them tell the class about the day the child was born so did I want to tell them about when Daniel joined our family? Well sure! I was happy to tell them that Daniel was born in Ukraine and I didn't get to be there that day, but 4 years later we came to Ukraine and met Daniel and were thrilled when he said he would like to come to America and join our family. I told them what it meant to be adopted - that we got to pick Daniel and he picked us. And by the time it was done, I was crying. 20 years from now, that story will probably still bring me tears of happiness. Oh the bliss of the miracle that is adoption!

This also happens to be Derby time here in Louisville, KY. That's a little horse race we have here - ya'll may have heard of it. Well - this is the most exciting time of year to be in Louisville. The whole town goes Derby crazy with 2 weeks of fun events! Following our big cupcake affair, we headed downtown for the Pegasus Parade. The weather was beautiful and we really enjoyed the parade as you can see.........

And now look at this big boy..... I can't believe he's going to be 6 tomorrow. He has grown 10 years in one. He's had so many life experiences, packed so much change and learning and growing into one year and through it all - that big smile and big personality is the one constant. That and our love for him, our absolute, whole hearted confidence that God picked out the perfect little boy for our family. What if we had never taken that step of faith? What if we had never gone to Ukraine? I can't imagine missing out on knowing and loving him.......

Spring Break pics

This is the last of our Spring Break pictures. We had a great time! If you ask Daniel now - what was your favorite thing in Florida? He'll say, 'Mickey Mouse'. We didn't get our pictures taken with any of the characters. He didn't want to waste time standing in line for that. He wanted to ride the rides!! We rode every single ride in Magic Kingdom with the exception of Space Mountain, The Haunted House and Snow White's Scary Adventures. We saw the night time parade, but he was too tired to stay for the fireworks. Oh well, we have to save something for next time.

One day at Disney was plenty for this first visit. The other days we went to the pool (as you can see), went to Sea World (you can go there the 2nd day for free!), went to the beach, more time at the pool, and just had a great time. The drive down there was really long but Daniel did great in car. (thank goodness for my DVD player!) We left Florida at 8:30pm on Friday, drove all through the night and got home at noon on Saturday.

Since we've been back, we're just trying to get back in to our routine. I had a reeeeeally busy week at work last week. Daniel is having trouble getting back into the swing of things at school and we've been on a frown face streak. Throwing crayons, playing on the carpet, hitting a teacher, scratching a kid - he's done it all! We're kind of at a loss as to what to do. Academically he is doing great. He just got his report card and it was 7 A's and 2 B's. He is so smart - already reading! But we are really working to get this behavior under control. He knows the rules - we talk about them, we write them out - but in the heat of the moment, he doesn't make a good choice. My Dad told me, the pain of the punishment has to be worse than the enjoyment of the crime. We're trying to figure out what's going to get through. Friday we were at our wits end - another frown. So, we came home, packed up a bunch of his toys and put them away (not all of them). He can earn them back one at a time when he gets a smile. If he gets another frown - another toy goes away. We'll see if that makes an impression......

Beach pictures

Sea World pics

Disney pictures

Hello from Florida!

We were standing in line to ride 'Peter Pan's Flight' and Daniel was jumping up and down. He turns to me and shouts out, 'Mom, I'm SO HAPPY!' That about sums it up. We're having a great time!!

New pictures!!!

I don't know what was going on with my camera, but I was finally able to download some photos today! YAY!! Daniel had his first baseball practice tonight. He did really great! Pop and I were both impressed. For having never worn a baseball glove or swung a bat - he did great. He wasn't scared - caught the ball, hit with the bat, ran the bases, and made a bunch of new friends!

A few weeks ago I took Daniel to see Playhouse Disney live at the Louisville Palace theater. We had a great time seeing all of our friends from TV come to life - Handy Manny, Little Einsteins, and of course Mickey!!!

We had a great time at Daniel's adoption party! Thanks again to everyone who joined us and made it a special event for him. When we were in Ukraine, I found these cool balloons with the country of Ukraine on them. I have been saving them all year for this event:

Still here!

So sorry for the long silence! For some reason I can't download pictures from my camera anymore. I don't know what's going on and what fun is a post without pictures?? Well, I finally decided to update, just so you would know we're still here!

We had a great adoption party on March 10th - Daniel's adoption day. We decided we would celebrate the day he joined our family as another birthday. That way, when he thinks about being adopted he'll think it's great because he has 2 birthdays! We had a really nice party. Thanks family for joining our celebration! We had about 20 people there!!

Since then, we've just been staying busy with school and activities. We signed Daniel up for baseball through our church. He wanted to play basketball, but that's a winter sport so we're trying baseball. We thought it would be a good outlet for him to run off all of that energy!!!

He's still been getting into a bit of trouble at school. We went this whole week without getting a smile! He's been throwing cushions, sticking his tongue out, saying No, refusing to do his work, and just generally misbehaving. (and then they also write up that he was good in the classroom, it's just when he's away from his normal teacher) I don't know what the answer is. We've tried taking away the television time (no smile, no tv), taking away the computer time, taking away toys, offering candy, writing sentences, you pick our dinner spot, standing in the corner....we're just at a loss. I told Jason - I think it's a total accident if he gets a smile or a straight line. I think he acts the same way every day and it's just a matter if it gets noticed or not. That may not be the case, but it sure seems like it. He always seems surprised to see what he got.

He's just the sweetest thing. We marvel at how happy and how excited he is. It just seems like life is so great, he's happy all the time. He's so full of life. And lately he's been a chatterbox. Usually it's like pulling teeth to get him to tell us about his day, but lately he just won't stop talking. It's like all this time he didn't know how to tell us and now he's making up for it! The other night I was putting him to bed, closing the curtains to his room and he comes running over and says, 'Mom, you're my best friend!' What a sweetheart! I am going to enjoy it now while he's little - I know that won't last. He loves to sit on my lap and snuggle, loves to be tickled, he's the apple of mom's eye - that's for sure!

Hopefully I can share new pictures with you soon! We are headed to Florida for Spring Break. Mom is more excited than Daniel. He has no idea what's coming! I asked him if he wanted to go to Florida and see Mickey Mouse. He thought about it for a minute, shrugged his shoulders and said, 'Sure!' :) He has no idea! We could be going to the mall for all he knows. We are going to go to Magic Kingdom for a couple of days and also take him to the beach. If we survive that long car ride, it's gonna be great! The next time you see Daniel, he might have mouse ears!

Beautiful weekend

Finally, some nice weather!! We were getting so sick of the cold temps. They were predicting it to be in the 50's this weekend so we thought we would make the most of it. We took Daniel hiking on Saturday. We just wanted to get out of the house and enjoy nature. We actually hiked 3.5 miles, which is pretty far for a little boy. We packed a picnic and took a break half way through....





Then we came home and cheered the Cards on to a BIG victory over Syracuse! Woo Hoo - what a game! We realized that we've been home with Daniel almost a year and he's never been to White Castle. How can that be? So we decided it was time to remedy that. We celebrated the Cards victory with a few sliders.....



Another nice weekend!


And I have to share a conversation we had this morning. He always asks BIG questions when I am totally unprepared to answer them. We were running late to school, rushing to get there and singing along with a CD and then Daniel asks, 'Mom, what's awesome God?' (we had just been singing 'Our God is an awesome God') So I was telling him about how awesome God is - He made the world, He made the sun and the trees and the clouds and the animals and Mama and Daniel. He is so big and awesome and yet He loves and cares about us - and the choices we make each day.
'Mom - and God made Jesus.'
'Well - God and Jesus are the same person.' (how do you explain that in a way he can understand?)
'Mom - Jesus is 2 years old.'
'No sweetie. We celebrate Jesus' birthday and read books about when He was born as a baby, but He is all grown up now. He is Big.'
'Mom - how old is Jesus?' (what do you say to that?)
'Well, Jesus is forever.' (what was the right answer here? I finally had to agree that Jesus is 100 - because that's a number he understands. How do you explain no beginning and no end?)
'Mom - what is Heaven.' (there is a little girl in his class named Heaven - how confusing is that!)
'Heaven is God's home. It is a truly amazing place. The streets are gold and God lives there. And we will go live there someday. God made a mansion for us to live in.'
'Mom - what's a mansion?'
'It's like a castle. It's a special, big home and God made it for us to live in. We will go live with Him there someday.'
'When Mom?'
'When we die, we will go to be with Jesus in Heaven.'
(eyes as big as saucers) 'Mom, Daniel doesn't want to die!'


This conversation was really fast. We jumped from one topic to the next so quickly, before I could really explain and expound on one topic he was asking another question. And then, all of a sudden we were at school. I felt so inadequate. Some of those concepts I can't even wrap my mind around. How do I explain them to my 5 year old in 10 minutes? I guess I just need to be happy that he is asking the questions and wants to know about this great God of ours. He has seen that we talk to God, we talk about God, and he wants to know more.

Lord - help me to do it right. Give me the right words. Help me to jump on those opportunities with both feet, and point this child to you!

Mom - look what I can do!

I hear that, look over and boom - he's standing on his head. Whoa! Am I a bad mom for letting him do this? It can't be good for his neck, right? What do I know? It was so cute!



Maybe we have a future U of L Cardinal on our hands? He's totally stuck on basketball lately. I think Jason and I are both exhausted with it. He gets stuck on something and that's all he wants to do. He's totally OCD, just like his mom:

Slip sliding around before school....

We like our strawberries for breakfast:

Tonight after his bath he tells me, 'Mom - how about this, brush teeth, and then you and Pop can come to my room and tickle me? Isn't that a great idea?' Sure, it's a great idea. Then we get in there and he goes, 'Pop - tickle Mom!'

15 minutes of tickling then we say our prayers, and off to sleep..........

What a doll! For all of the standing in the corner, reviewing the rules and attitude (including a frowny face today from school) - he's such a sweetie!

Report Cards!!

We had our Parent/Teacher conference yesterday at Daniel's school and got his report card. I am proud to report to you that he got 7 A's, 1 B and 1 C (in math). We couldn't be more pleased. Out of necessity, we have focused more on English than on math so we weren't surprised that he got A's in reading and writing and a C in math.

We are so impressed with his progress. He is actually reading! He started out in the reading group for kids that are behind and he has moved up to the group of readers 'at grade level'. His teacher said he would be in the advanced group, but he has trouble staying on task when they are in groups and that's one of the requirements to be in the advanced group. He is also writing in full sentences. WOW! His teacher told us that she goes over their learning objective for the day (capitalization or spacing or whatever) and then she models it for the class and then tells them they can write about whatever they want. She said they think it's so cute that Daniel ALWAYS writes about how happy he is with Mom and Pop. She sends home his writing work. I have the cutest papers that say 'I Luv Mom and Pop' or 'I wuz hapy wen I frst saw Mom and Pop' or 'I wuz hpy to go Prk with Mom and Pop' (insert beaming smile here!)

One Year Ago

Exactly one year ago today, we met this little boy:

It's really amazing to think back to that day. We were so tired, running on nervous energy and stepping out in faith - believing that God picked out this child for us. I will be honest, there weren't bells and rainbows and a swell of dramatic background music. It was just us, sitting in a dark office in Ukraine, meeting a total stranger. But there was also a calm certainty. God lined everything up to bring us to this day and what an awesome feeling that was!

So here we are - exactly one year later:

And we are more certain today than we were a year ago. God picked out just the right child for us. He is our boy through and through! We are so blessed and feel truly fortunate to parent this sweet child. He's been so fun. We've done more running, tickling, hiding, laughing, chutes and ladders, Phineas and Ferb, making PB&J, throwing balls, counting, spelling and hugging in the past year than I don't know when! Don't get me wrong - we have our moments. He is still getting in trouble in school. We have had more than one note from his teacher. He's being defiant, saying no to the teachers, full of attitude, putting his food on the floor in the cafeteria, and today - pinching a kid. We work through the things as they come and celebrate when he gets a smile! (which he does - it's up and down!)

The stuttering is almost completely gone (for now). It was so bad a few weeks ago, I thought we were going to need to get him some therapy and now it's gone. Huh!

We marvel at how far he's come in a year! He's learned so much and his English is great. But, he's still learning new things every day. He doesn't yet have enough English to really tell me a story. He wants to tell about something that happened at school, but he doesn't have enough words. He'll get half way through a story, and then just say, 'I don't know.' He gives up. But he can do way more today than he could even a few months ago. He can actually get on the phone and have somewhat of a conversation with you - it's pretty cute. I usually always know what he's trying to say - even if someone else doesn't. Check this out:

Thank you Lord for making us a family!

Happy Valentines Day

No new pictures, but I have to share with you these 2 cute things..........

The other night I was putting Daniel to bed. He says to me:
'Mom, do you want to sleep with me? My bed is warm and toasty!'
'No Sweetie. I am going to put on my pj's and then I go to sleep with Pop.'
'Why, mom?'
'Because I am married to Pop - so I sleep with him.'
Pause.....
'Mom'
'Yes?'
'Tomorrow - do you want to marry me?'
(how sweet is that?)

Last night, we went out to the Hopeful Hearts gala. That is the organization through our church that helped us with our adoption (link on the sidebar). They have one fundraising dinner a year. We always make it a point to attend, and that's our fancy valentine date too! So, I was getting all snazzed up - putting makeup on in the bathroom and Daniel was watching. He was watching me put on my lipstick and he goes,
'Wow Mom - you're pretty!'
'Thank you, sweetie!'
Pause....
'Mom, don't kiss me with that stuff on!'
:)

So, immediately I had to chase him around the house making kissy noises. What a crack up he is!

Snow fun

First snowman:

First snow angel:

We had a big time in the snow and then came inside for some hot chocolate, hot soup and a much needed nap. Some things I learned today:

1 - building a snowman is waaaaay harder than it looks

2 - it's only fun for about 5 minutes, especially if you're 5 years old!

3 - Celery doesn't stick to snow (we didn't have a carrot for his nose)

4 - a good use of old halloween candy is for a snowman eyes and buttons

5 - Daniel would rather throw snow than anything. Throw snow, throw the shovel, throw the bucket - it's all about throwing really. Maybe baseball is in his future?