Our fun weekend

This past weekend was so much fun! We had some friends come down from up North to spend some time with us. We ate well, laughed a lot, and just spent some really good time together with friends. Good friends are so important! My parents watched the kids Sunday night so we could go out to dinner as adults and it was so nice to just be by ourselves and not have to worry about screaming kids who want to go to bed.
On Monday we went to Legoland with some other friends that are camping down here. They have 2 little boys 3 and 1 and they get along great with our kids. It was a fun day, exhausting, but fun. Then we went to their campsite, ate a great dinner and headed home. It has taken me 2 days to recoup and I'm sure Jonah is going to need lots of down time this weekend after going straight to work.
Nothing else is going on really. Just life I guess :)

Lunch with an old friend

Today the kids and I went to lunch with an OLD friend of mine from childhood. I think I've known her since I was about 3 or so. We were best freinds all through elementary and junior high and then parted ways when we both attended different high schools. She was married the week before Jonah and I and I went to her wedding but other than that we have really had no interaction at all for about 15 years. Her brother (a good friend of my brothers) gave me her phone number and so I called. Much to my surprise she lives about 5 miles from me and so we met for lunch with all our kids. She has a little boy that is just 4 months younger than Kai and then just got back from Russia with her 11 year old son. It was fun to meet each others kids and actually have something in common with each other (adoption). I am looking forward to play dates and more fun outings to come. The kids had fun together and Alana fell in love with Alexei (her 11 yr. old) but at first he wouldn't let her hug him or hold his hand. By the end of the day she got a hug when she left and Alana has been talking about "Lexi" ever since.
We also went to visit Daddy today and sat out at the picnic bench while the kids ran on the grass. It is such a treat to have him so close. We went to the library to get library cards and then on to the grocery store. We have some good friends coming down to visit for a few days and they will be here tomorrow for dinner. Just a little about my day today.

Kai's new haircut

Jonah has been threatening to buzz Kai's hair for the last few weeks and I have begged him not to do it until after Easter. So Easter evening we got out the clippers and buzzed away. Kai HATED it but after the first cut you can't just stop ;) We finally got it to were it is even and looks nice but Jonah and I hate it! Yes, it will be cooler and easier with summer coming and the heat but we already miss his beautiful long black silky locks. He truly looks like some kind of chemo patient who is just growing their hair back and not like our little boy very much any more. I am sad that we cut it and probably won't ever buzz it again until he is much older. So now we sit back and wait for his hair to grow back...

Look Mom, no training wheels!

Today Sarah FINALLY learned how to ride a 2 wheeler bike. It has been over 2 years since she got her first bike and we have been trying to teach her and she just wouldn't/couldn't learn. We were out playing at the neighbors and she was playing on her friends bike, which was way to small for those long legs. I asked her if she wanted to try on her own bike and 2 tries later she was off! I am so proud of her and so glad that she can ride bikes with all her new friends. She came to me later on in the day and had an idea. She wants us to get a babysitter for the littles and Daddy, Mommy and her go ride their two-wheelers by ourselves. It was really cute the way she told me her idea. Of course she needs to work on her steering skills. The car, grass, neighbor and I all got a little taste of her wheels and one time she went off the curb and right into the middle of the street. When I asked her where she was going she pointed back at us and said, "I just couldn't get it to go that way". :) I love that girl, she always makes me smile.

Meeting new friends

Just a quick update on how things are going with our new house as we celebrate a week of being here. Sarah is meeting new friends already and I think she is enjoying it. Many of them have come to our door to introduce themselves and ask her to play and they are around her age too. So far we have met 10 kids in the court and of those 10 kids 7 of them are adopted from the foster care system! What an amazing feeling as a mother to know that my kids will "fit right in" when it comes to the other families in our neighborhood. Funny thing is that the biological families are in the minority here!
Our house in coming along and most of the boxes are already unpacked. My mom came and helped finish some things and strip wallpaper in the laundry room. What a yucky job that is! We still have Kai's room and bathroom to do to. I am not looking forward to that at all!
On a side note I want to make a mention of something that I have heard quite a few times in the last couple of weeks about adopted kids not being "your own". When people ask us "Don't you want to have any kids of your own?" or other such comments about other adoptive families who also have bio kids it is really hurtful to OUR KIDS! How does that make them feel to know that people don't think they are "our" kids? It insinuates that biology is the best way to make a family and adoption is just second best. As a mom it is my job to protect my kids and because Sarah is old enough to understand and Alana is almost there I don't want them to hear those types of comments. Just something for you to think about. You may think I am being too sensitive about it but it really comes down to my kids and how it makes them feel. They are already going to struggle about the whole adoption thing without others making them feel second best by labeling them "adopted". They are just MY kids, isn't that good enough?

Our new house

We are finally in our new house and getting settled. The poor kids are having a hard time with it but are just now seeming to be doing better. We slept on the floor in sleeping bags for 4 nights and the kids just got all of their things back together and are in their beds. Like always the moving thing was just a huge fiascoe with things broken, people not showing up and just an overall bad experience. I don't know if we will hire a moving company again. Besides all that we LOVE, LOVE, LOVE our new house. Our old furniture looks great in it and we are looking forward to buying some new things to fill up all the room we have. We have met some of our neighbors on our court. They are very nice and all of them have little kids. It is very quiet and so much fun to be in a "real" neighborhood. Sarah has been out playing on her scooter almost all day which is something she never did at our old house unless we were out there with her.
The kids love our new pool and I am loving my HUGE kitchen. I can't even believe all the space there is in it. I can't even fill up all the cupboards and drawers and I have a lot of kitchen stuff too. Our house is so big and I can't wait to have a few more little feet running around to fill up the extra rooms. We definitely have the room.
That's about it for now. Back to unpacking some boxes...

Adoption Day was great!

So now that I'm back on-line I thought I'd tell you all about how adoption day went. It was so much fun and emotional. We had about 22 people there to witness it and the judge was just great. Kai is officially our first child because his adoption was done first and then Sarah and then Alana. Sarah got embarrassed when everyone started clapping when she was announced Sarah Ellyn Winger but you couldn't wipe the smile off her face. When we finally got to sign Alana's papers and handed them back to the bailiff she announced, "That was for me, now I adopted!" It was very cute.
After the proceedings and pictures we went down in the basement of the courthouse to have tile handprints done of the kids. We get to keep one set and the other set goes on the courthouse wall forever. Very special. We then went to breakfast with a few of our friends and the girl's brothers and their parents. Jonah had to miss that because he needed to be back at the house for the movers. All in all it was a great day and one that we will remember forever. However, I am so glad it is finally over.