Some Catching Up For Majorly Slacking Bloggers

Allllrighty.  So we've been home for a while now.  Things are going well!  Also, busy.  Who knew!?

Ephraim has been growing, and seems to be getting a lot stronger.  He has a lot more stamina than at first, tho he has yet to take his first steps.  He can stand up from  seated position, but just wobbles for a second and then plops back down.  He has a lot of encouragers, tho.  I don't think it'll be too long.  :)

He had gained 4 pounds last we had him checked out (which doesn't sound like much, but it's about 25% of his original body weight, so we'll say that's a pretty good gain for 4 months or so!  He has also mastered going up stairs, and later figured out how to get down them as well.  He signs Please, and More and will wave Hi and Bye and give Fives, but his only consistent word thus far is Uh-Oh!

Ephraim had his 2nd birthday in March.  He did seem to like the cake... at least smashing it.  He didn't really eat any to speak of.  But it was sure fun to make a mess!

Eli's birthday was in May.  He was very excited and counted down the days for quite some time.  He loves school and baseball and running and generally anything that is outside and active and loud.

We moved in April to a place with more acreage, and as of today have an accepted offer on our old house!

 We LOVE our new house, and our commutes are about the same.  We have baby chicks now and will soon have a coop ready for them to live in.  They all have wonderful names, compliments of various children.  This has been a bit of transition for all of us, and I was especially worried about Ephraim as new as it all was already, but he seems to be just fine.

Raya has, unsurprisingly, had the hardest transition in all of this.  She was always pretty sassy, but seems very emotionally delicate these days.  Basically her regular Raya-tude self, but magnified.  She LOVES her baby brother... most of the time, but I think has struggled some with the loss of her "baby" status and has to sneak in her snuggles when she can.

Both of the big boys now ride their bikes without training wheels.  Isaac aced it shortly after we moved to our new house, which has a wonderful driveway for biking on, and once Isaac got it, Eli was determined that he was not going to be left behind.  Within a couple weeks, he was very proud to show me his new skills as well.

Isaac finished first grade, and is out for the summer.  He is also playing baseball, and we have some other fun things planned.  Vacation with John's family, and hopefully some visitors.  I'm sure it'll go fast.  I can't believe it's June already!

January 28~ Home!

We stopped and picked up Isaac at school.  We'd warned his teacher that were coming, and it was sweet, because then his class met Ephraim and said Ni Hao and said they'd been praying for us.  Isaac was surprised to see us and more than happy to leave school early, and we headed home to meet the others!

We're Home!!

A bit of Chaos. (What is Isaac doing??)

My lap was suddenly very popular.

Four! 

All up in his face.  All the time. 

He's mostly a pretty happy guy, tho.

Teaching him some good stuff.

I have 3 boys!

Isaac takes his big brother responsibilities very seriously.

(He's so sweet!) :)

They even made us a sign!

A Merry Christmas Update.

So since I am generally too lazy to write a Christmas letter you can consider this your letter and update.  (I did just print some cards, tho.  Yes, at 6pm on Christmas eve.  I'm right on top of it this year.)

The kids are very excited for Christmas.  By excited, I mean wound up.  There's so much energy all up in here I just can't believe it.

Except for the part where they all decided to get a fever today.  So... less energy today than before.  But more whining.  They're lucky they're so cute. :) 

Right now they look like this.  Veggin' in front of a movie.

For Thanksgiving we went to The Homeland.  It was a pretty quick trip, but we were able to see everyone who lives out that direction, and we ate lots of delicious food.  The kids really loved playing with the kitties and they keep asking when we can go back.

Raya turned 3 at the end of November.  It was a very Frozen birthday.  :)  She was all kinds of excited.

And donned much bling for the occasion.

In November, our new cousin Lyla finally got to come home!  She's Nathaniel and Emily's 5 year old daughter, home by way of international adoption.  Hooray and Welcome Home, Lyla!  We're very excited to meet her, but thought we'd give her a little time to adjust to all the new first.

This is not Lyla.  This is Raya. 

And these are my boys.

We are currently waiting on TA (Travel Approval) in which China says it's ok for us to hop on a plane and come get Ephraim.  Once we have TA, we choose a visa appointment at the Consulate and book tickets.  Within a couple weeks of TA, we'll be on our way.  It's getting close!!

And we got new pictures and measurements of Ephraim.  So he's 21m old by now, and roughly the size of a 9m old.   Overall, doing well.  And cute, of course.  But I can't post pics just yet.

So here's Mr. Potato Head instead. 

Time Flies

Man, it's been so long.  I used to be such an avid blogger and blog-stalker, but lately I just don't keep up.  Life has been busy.  School started, Isaac's in first grade, and loves it.  He's getting so much better at reading!  This kid, he eats an unbelievable amount of food.  I cannot imagine the grocery bill when he's a teenager.  I guess he needs a lot of energy, tho.  His favorite thing is recess, where he generally entertains himself by running races with his friends, or playing soccer.

Eli and Isaac are both playing soccer this fall, which is so much fun, and hilarious!  4 year old soccer is my favorite, because it can only be described as total chaos. Kids running every which way, kicking haphazardly at the ball.  Eli runs on and off the field willy nilly, when he feels like he needs a drink, or to tell me he scored a goal, or because he doesn't feel like sitting on the bench anymore, or he needs a break to go grab a stick off a tree and play ninja for a few minutes. Seriously.  It's the best.

Watching Isaac's game while he's waiting for his turn.

This was after his 6th goal of the game.  Notably, they were playing without goalies, but still, I was impressed.  It was so cute, tho, after the first few goals he scored, he did this muscle pose.  Of course, I never had my camera ready for that.  But I still think he's the cutest.  :) 

So. Much. Fun.

Cheerleader!

 

Raya is talking and singing up a storm.  She loves to tell long stories, and while most often I can understand her, when she's on a fast streak, I'm totally lost.  She loves all things Frozen, and we frequently hear stories about Elsa and Anna and Snowman.  When she gets to wear her Elsa shirt, it requires rejoicing with jumping up and down and screaming in joy.  Raya still believes she is the boss of the world, and does not like to be told No.  I suppose that's typical of any 2 year old.

Such a big girl riding her bike!

No updates on Ephraim.  Still waiting for the "reviewed" status, which could be anytime in the next few weeks I suppose.  We're still probably looking at January or February for travel.  I don't have any new pictures or updates or anything on him, which is kind of a bummer.  His orphanage seems to be really not into sending those out.

These Kids. They are comedians, and they don't know it.

Mostly for the sake of my memory, here are some recent(ish) conversations at our house.


Me: Goodnight guys. I'm going for a run.
Isaac: Then you'll be sweating LIKE A FREAK when you come in and hug us!


Eli: Ababa, tell me the truth. Were you sleeping with your shirt off?
John: Yes, I did.
Eli: Are you lying?! You're in trouble! You need your shirt on!


Me: (in an overly excited and encouraging voice) Raya, shall we go sit on the potty?!
Raya: (non-chalantly) No, I go in my pants.


Raya: (very excited but mostly unintelligible toddler-jabber)
Eli: That's a really good story, baby!


Me: Why is there a hose in the tree?
Isaac: We were trying to get the frisbee down.
Me: With a hose?
Isaac. No, with a rock.
Me: So... Why is there a hose in the tree?
Isaac: I don't know. Cuz we swinged a rock in the bag- very carefully and did not hit Raya- and we threw it up in the tree to get the frisbee out, and then the rock fell out and the bag got stuck.
Me: So you tried to get the bag out with the hose?
Isaac: Yeah.


Isaac: (wearing a shirt that says "I'm gonna change the world.") Mom, who's going to change the world?
Me: Well, God is. But if you ask him, maybe He'll use you to do it.
Isaac: That would be awesome. I'm going to change the back yard into a swimming pool!


Me: Oh, did I say Isaac? Sorry Isaac. I meant Eli.
Isaac: It's ok mom. I still love you even if you can't say my name.


Isaac: I smelled those flowers. They smell super good.
Eli: They smell like ham?


Isaac: God made the sun.
Eli: Yeah. And grass! And trampolines!
Me: What day of creation included trampolines?
Eli: Next week!


Isaac: Mom, do ears have earwax?
Me: Yes.
Isaac: So the bugs will get stuck in the earwax.
Me: Bugs?
Isaac: Yeah. If bugs fly in there, they'll get stuck, and you can just smoosh them with your ears.

Eli: For my birthday I want to be The Hulk, and Iron Man, and Captain America, and Superman... (pause) Hulk has purple underwears.
Isaac: Yeah. He wears girl pants!

In Which We Can Prove that We are Citizens!

So I finally got around to applying for the "new" kids' certificates of citizenship a few months ago.

So... introducing:  America's Cutest Newly-Officialized Citizens!  Woohoo!  

And since now we're working on adoption #4, it's good to be finished with adoptions #2 and 3.  

Too bad they spelled Raya's name wrong... not quite sure yet how to remedy that situation...

So maybe not quiiiiiiiite finished yet.  Sigh. 

In Which it Has Turned to Summer.

This one graduated kindergarten.  So now it's officially summer! 

(And it's true that he's the cutest graduate ever.) 

We got a very huge first strawberry harvest, and couldn't wait to eat them.

Grandma Barb took us for a golf lesson.

This one, he has impeccable form!

And after golf, we went for a swim! 

Swimming is the best.

We're off to a great start!  I love summer.  :) 

2 Years.

So Blessed to be their Mama.  

There just aren't words. 

In Which We Encounter a Break in Gravity

In a sudden burst of anti-gravity, there have been numerous sightings of Various Flying Objects.

Take Pajama Pants on the Fan, for example.

And Pizza Crust on the Cupboards.

Socks on the Light Fixture.

And Underwear on the Curtains.

This particular display included no less than 8 objects which floated simultaneously to the top of the cupboard in an apparent effort to dislodge the buckets of Halloween candy.

Historically, we have also had trouble with Rampantly Roving Socks.

Such as this guy who thought he'd take a spin in the fire truck.

And this one, who thought he was a dish towel.

Or this guy who wanted to Spin on the Fan (and again defied gravity to do so).

Impressive.

And despite the fact that no one ever seems to know how these adventures came about, I have a feeling there are 2 little boys who might have some influence on this particular bit of gravity...