A Lot of Catching Up to Do

Our little star soccer player Aidan with his cousin Conor. Aidan and Conor played on the same team this last soccer season. Aidan was the best player on the team. And I'm not just saying that because I'm his mom. He was really good and fast. We called him lightning. There were few times that he sat out of the game. He may have found his sport.


Below Aidan dressed for his Tae Kwan Do class. He and Landen both took classes last semester. I think Landen was having one of his moments this day and opted not to put on his uniform. Both boys seem to enjoy this class, especially Landen. Next school year I will be looking into some of the martial arts schools to see what they have available. We just registered the boys for a semester at our local YMCA before deciding to sign a contract and pay a lot more. We really do take advantage of our membership at our YMCA and I would recommend it to any parent whose child is thinking of sports, dance, gymnastics, etc.... It's not as competitive nor as professional as some of the other areas, but it is a lot cheaper and it's a way of knowing whether or not your child really likes the activity before having to dish out the big bucks.

A Lot of Catching Up to Do

Cha cha cha changes

Things are moving along and life is changing and getting busier everyday. The kids have started school and I have started working on Tuesdays and Thursdays. We are trying to get adjusted and back into the swing of things. The good news is that in spite of all of our business, my wonderful husband has took the time to schedule us a trip to Hawaii for our ten year anniversary. YAY!!!! I am so looking forward to going. And I'm hoping to drop a couple of pounds before heading out if that's possible, if not I'm still going to enjoy my time away. This will be the first time since Adam and I got married after our honeymoon that we have gone away together with just the two of us. Long overdue. So if any of my friends out there who have been to Hawaii have any recommendations or suggestions, please let me know.

Ashlyn and Landen have officially started school, with the exception of being out right now because of the hurricane, and for the most part seem to be enjoying being back. It took Landen all of four days before he got a note sent home from his teacher. He did not want to follow directions and wanted to do his own thing. Imagine that. So in return, Landen had to write his teacher a letter apologizing for not listening and promising to do better. So far so good.

Ashlyn on the other hand tries her best to be a people pleaser. She likes her teacher and is always trying her best to please her teacher. And with school comes all of their extracurricular activities -voice/piano, tae kwan do, gymnastics, soccer, and Adventure Guides. They don't all do this, but for all three of them this is what the activities include. I know it's insane, but sometimes I think I'm trying to make up for the things that I could not do when I was growing up. I was not completely deprived as a child but things like piano, gymnastics, or dance were never an option for me as a child. If I got to do something it was because a friend's mom would pick me up and drop me off. So I want to make sure my children have a lot of opportunities. I never force them to do anything (except for Ashlyn's piano and voice), but it's their decision on whether or not they want to do these extracurricular activities. Which I am totally for because I don't want them watching T.V. and playing video games all of the time.
Aidan has not started school yet. His first day isn't until October 7th and he is doing his best to stay patient because he enjoys going to school as well. It's hard for him at times to see his brother and sister going to school while he stays at home.

I am currently working at a MDO program for a little extra money every month. Even though it is taking me a while to see the benefits of working part time because of the cost of finger printing, Alexandra's deposit and being out a week because of the hurricane. I am with ten two year olds. What a challenge. I enjoy it, but come home tired because of all the running around I have to do. The hardest part is bringing them all to the bathroom. They run all over the restrooms, play in the water and almost always need assistance. And for those little ones who have to wait while the others are going to the restroom, they have a hard time being patient.

When Alexandra turns eighteen months old, she will be coming with me. I think she's ready because she has become so independent over these last couple of months and she's like a little sponge. She still loves books and at times I will find her sitting down looking at a book pretending to read. So I think she is going to enjoy going to preschool. She's getting to the point where I can now go to church and the YMCA without her crying when I drop her off. It's strange because we have only had our daughter for six months, but I can't imagine not having her before. It's like she's always been part of our family. She's such a blessing and joy. Adam tells me she was the longest delivery ever. That's true. Both of my girls were a lot of work, Ashlyn with IVF and waiting for Alexandra for three years.

Yikes it was Ike

Here are some pictures of our yard after Ike came through.

The renovations moving along in our house. A couple of doors and a huge window so that I can now watch my children as they play outside. There's still a lot more left to do.


Alexandra eating her first chocolate popsicle. I think she likes it.

August News

Unlike last year we didn't let this summer pass us by without a trip to Sea World. We all had a good time, with the exception of Landen and Aidan not being able to ride a lot of the rides. It was very very hot, but we managed. We will go again when the boys are a little taller, not in August and not on a weekend.

Ashlyn and Alexandra displaying their gifts of love given to them by their dear friend Ms. Stephanie and Harper.
Our family photo taken for our Social Worker's visit the next day. We have plenty of photos of everyone, but very few of all of us together. (Someone has to be on the other end of the camera). This is one of Alexandra's favorite thing to do, play rough with her dad. The visit went really well with the exception of me wanting to choke Ashlyn. The social worker has to come and see how we are all doing six months and then a year after our arrival from China. While conducting her interview with me, the kids did not want to leave the room. I asked them to leave, but they wanted by all means to stay. I told them they could stay if they promised to be quiet and listen. Well about two minutes into the interview, the boys had had enough and left the room. Ashlyn on the other hand stayed and decided that she would answer the social worker's questions. I told her several times that the social worker was talking to me, not her, and I asked her to leave more than once. She just out right refused to listen. Okay let's just stop the interview with the social worker so I can strangle my daughter. The social worker asked if Alexandra was sick since we brought her back. I answered no, she just had a bout with allergies that I needed to check out, I noted she was allergic to peanut butter and possibly had some outdoor allergies. And then Ashlyn chimed in, "Oh remember Alexandra was really sick when she had a fever of 103." (I forgot about this), and then she proceeded to say that Alexandra had a black eye too. From that point on, I just wanted to say yeah, and we lock our kids up on the closet too. Let's just say I wasn't a happy camper with Ashlyn after the interview. I wanted to tell her that if she really wanted to do an interview with the social worker then she would have to go to China and get her own kid.

This is what we did during the summer. I cannot tell you how many Saturday's I had to show up at the gym at 8 o'clock in the morning for the games. I don't think we will be doing any summer sports again. This was the first season that the kids played basketball and for the most part all of the kids seemed to enjoy basketball. I think Aidan was kind of in la la land about half the time - he was with the four year old team. Ashlyn and Landen played on the same team. They both did really well. Every time Landen got the ball, he ALWAYS passed it to his sister.

This was a wonderful treat for us. We had a mini reunion with some of the families that where with us in China. We were able to meet in Austin before going to Sea World. It was so nice to see everyone again. My only complaint was that it was not long enough. I got to talk to everyone, but couldn't really speak to just one person in depth. I really did miss these guys. You wouldn't believe how close you can get to someone after spending three weeks together and having to share the same experiences together. This is just a small portion of our group. We are trying our hardest to have a reunion sometime in the future with the whole group. The baby being held in the back by her dad, Julieann was Alexandra's crib mate.

August news

I cannot believe the kids will be starting school in less than 2wks. Wow, the summer has gone by quickly. Maybe it's because we have been sooooo busy.

It's A Family Affair

With everyone pitching in and the help of family and friends, our house is finally finally getting started with renovations.
The kids love helping their dad work on the house, especially the boys.
Ashyn did not want to be left out, so she decided to pitch in too.
I've been wanting to do this for a long long time - knock this wall down. We are expanding our back wall from our living area that had a horrible design of two windows on opposite ends that were way too high to see the outside yard. And I hated it because I could not see my children while they played outside. With this wall down we will have about an extra three feet added to our living area and I will be able to see my kids play outside from any area of the living room without having to get up and look out the window. We have added a door, french doors, and a huge window that takes up about half the wall. It really has opened up the room. So far Adam and the kids have knocked down half of the wall, next they will do the fire place in the middle and then the other half of the wall. YAY!!!!
Nope, this is not a posed picture. I am really up on the roof, screwing the plywood down. It took me a while before I started to get blisters on my hand to look over at my husband and see him wearing gloves. He forgot that minor detail while handing me the tools. OOPS. I managed to finish the job in over 90 degree weather. There are very few times that I am willing to pat myself on the back, but I was sure damn proud of myself for getting up on the roof for over an hour bent over drilling the plywood. (Yep, I was sore the next day) So see, I'm not a total girly girl. I also helped drill the holes in the yard when we first got our house to put up the fence. I wonder if I can add all of this to my resume and who knows, by the time I look for a paying job, I may have to look into this line of work. It's been so long since I've done administrative work - yep, that's why it takes me so long to blog because I'm not as efficient as I once was years ago on the computer. Not to mention the alone time is few and far in between. But hey, for the most part, I'm happy.