Oh my. Maybe a picture is worth a thousand words.

Most relaxed kid.  Ever.

Seriously chilled out.

Junior Kindergarten "Graduation"

Abigail "graduated" from Junior Kindergarten today.  What I loved about the program was that they didn't pretend that it was something that it wasn't.  They didn't dress the kids up in gowns and cardboard hats and parade them around to Pomp and Circumstance.  The teacher said some wonderful things about "returning" the kids to us, a few pounds heavier, a few  inches taller, with a few letters and sounds in their minds and a few more social skills in their repertoire.  It made more than half of the room of parents and relatives tear up at least a little. It was very sweet, nostalgia-inducing stuff.

Then the kids sang some songs about things they learned ("I can sing and I can paint; I know to say not instead of ain't" and "I'm ready to learn to read and write; I learned to share and not to fight!").  Adorable!!

Abigail and her best friend, singing together
We hope they stay friends for 13 more years: the other girl
is SUCH a good kid and we love her so much!!!

One song that they sang was apparently a big secret (they were instructed not to practice it at home) called "The World Is A Rainbow" with some wonderful lyrics for children about acceptance and love.  ("Now you be you, and I'll be me; that's the way we're meant to be... The world is beautiful when we live in harmony.")  Super sweet, innocent, child-stuff and I got to live blissfully in that virtuous, wholesome world again for 30 or 40 minutes this evening.  

Sunday Snapshot: New Bike

With some gift card money we recently received, we bought a Cozy Coupe for Joseph, slide for Joseph, and Abigail got her first bike (with training wheels).  All she wants to do is ride it!!  (We do make her wear a helmet when she leaves the driveway so no criticism on that front.)

Pool's Open

Last year, our pool looked like this all summer:

(Larry can't believe I even
took a pic of this frog habitat)

I am usually the person who is the Cleaner around the house.  (Larry is the Takes Care of Icky Stuff and the Chef.)  But I just didn't care to learn to take care of the pool; it could have been torn down as far as I was concerned.  So Larry did his best and that was it.






Now, however, he has figured it out and I am SOOOO glad that we didn't tear it down.  Look at these happy faces.

Still too cold for me, but kids are impervious to cold
and Larry eventually got off of his tippy toes.

Here comes trouble!

Nom nom nom

Afraid of grass but fearless in the pool
Abigail is hanging onto his boat as a float.  It was pretty funny.

We are so happy she found her pool confidence last year.
Larry thinks he may be able to relax on a raft a little this summer!!

He thought it was fun when his sister shot him in the face.
It made him giggle.

See?  Happy happy kid!!

It was such a relaxed, fun afternoon.

Flying Spaghetti Monster

Joseph loves noodles.  Noodles and rice.  So, Larry is finding new ways to cook his favorite Asian staples to hide good food in or on or among them so that he can get some nutrition.

In China, and after we brought him home, many people thought he looked like a Buddha, with his rotund abdomen, but today, after a successful dinner of noodles with spinach, artichoke hearts, and mushrooms, we think the little tyke is more representative of the Flying Spaghetti Monster, not the Enlightened One!  But hey, he lives in an open-minded family.  We don't mind.

Keeping Up Appearances

Our close friends, group 2091, and close family know different parts of how difficult this week has been.
The ugly, the difficult, the frustrating, the lonely.

And most people want to hear about our wonderful experience or (in their view) how we "saved" a child from an orphanage.  Most people want to hear the good news.  And most people hear it.

But we aren't heros.
We are just two tired people, trying to get through the days.

Yet, the past two afternoons, as our kids played happily together, as Joseph giggled and branched out even more and Abigail didn't burst into sobs and accuse us of playing favorites where she was the losing party, we were 2 very happy parents.

*deep breath*

It is all going to be great.
But it is going to be a hell of a long summer.

2 sibs, playing in a box

We left them alone for about 20 minutes today behind closed doors.
We heard no screams so assumed everything was going well.
When we checked on them, Abigail said "I am such a good
big sister.  I watched him and played with him and I even
wiped his runny nose and put it [the tissue] in the garbage can."

Part of our challenges this week is that
the little guy is sick AND had a reaction to
his MMR vaccine he got last week.
He just couldn't get comfortable last night.
(5 hours of sleep for him, 3 for Larry as a result)

Memorial Weekend

On Saturday, my family got together at Jim and Steph's house.  It was Joseph's first outing longer than an hour since we have been home from China and he did super well.  When we got home after 8 hours away, he became a giddy, euphoric, hyper baby and it made us wonder if he was realizing and defining "home" in his brain, defining it as more permanent than hotel rooms and airports and most of the transient things he experienced with us while in China.  (Remember, we haven't had him yet at home as long as we had him in China!)



One wonderful thing about the day was that while most everyone worked on putting new siding on Jim's shed, Aunt Steph got to spend a lot of quality time with Abigail.  It was very sweet and I know Abigail felt loved and special.

Abigail also scored 2 really great naps: one in a hammock and another with her fur-cousin, Huxley.

Joseph enjoyed a quick dunk in a swimming pool that was just filled with a hose supplied with 55 degree well-water.  He found it invigorating and wanted more more more!  (He felt the same way about the pita chips too!)

I have no idea who this stink-eye is directed towards!