Some Before and Afters

For those of you who don't know, my sister-in-law Natalie is really amazing.  She's amazing in a lot of ways.  She is kind and fun and a great friend to me.  She's an awesome mom.  She also started a business to help out with the family finances and she has become an amazing success as a "Mompreneur!  Check out her blog here:  Natty by Design 
or here: http://nattybydesign.blogspot.com/


Natalie knew that I'd been having a rough summer and that I had a lot of projects that I just didn't have the energy to finish.  Her specialty is painting old things and making them look new and beautiful!  My kitchen cabinet doors had been sitting in the garage since we moved in.  I had a table with no chairs.  I had an awesome dresser for Lila but hadn't painted it yet...so Natalie (with the help and support of my brother-in-law Zac, of course) flew out to our house for a quick weekend.  She worked her tail off and helped me get things done!  She had to leave before everything was dry so she didn't get to see the rewards of her labor.   Here are some before and after pics:

First Before:  The cabinets were more honey colored than they appear here.  We did not like them.

 

Second Before:  I worked my tail off before we moved in and got the skeleton done but we spent over 2 months with no doors or drawer fronts.  It was lovely:

 First After:

I wrote "first after" because I love my cabiets now! I think they look amazing!  However, the cream walls don't do much for the kitchen with everything else white.  We've been planning to paint the kitchen and is one of my next projects...for sometime in the next month...or...year.

Before:  I found some really nice, sturdy, wood chairs on Craigs List for really cheap!  But they needed some obvious help.

I chose a teal green color for them.  Jason was not sure about my bright color choice at first but now he is getting used to them and I think he even likes the fun color in an otherwise very neutral area.  The 4 black chairs ($5/each) had been refinished many times and looked super trashed but they were still very sturdy and I'm glad we have some extra chairs to bring out so we can eventually start inviting families over to eat with us.

Here is Natalie hard at work, getting everything ready to paint.  It was REALLY hot!  I don't have an after photo of the dresser yet but it is darling.  Thank you so much, Nat, for your generosity!

Goldilocks the Tazmanian Devil

 I like to call Lila Goldilocks because her curly hair has so much true gold in it.  But she much more closely resembles "Taz" from the old Warner Brother cartoons.  She whirls through the house.  Within 5 minutes she will have dumped out a train set, climbed onto the table and colored some markers on herself and the table, then thrown said markers onto the ground with out their caps, climbed onto the counter by the sink to break some dishes, dumped out the Scrabble game, poured my face powder all over herself and then thrown  something into the toilet. 

 Regrettably all this whirling-dervish-ness often ends up with something like the huge lump she currently has on her forehead.

 Grace is a wonderful big sister to her.  Lila adores her older siblings and goodness you should see the claps and screams of joy when they come home from school!  But she wears them out a lot, too.

 But, no matter.  This stage soon will pass and I remind myself many times every day not to wish away any of these moments with these little ones.

Back to School

Oh dear...there is so much to write about the last month but it was so emotionally exhausting that I don't know if I can do it.  I hope I will.  Especially about Haiti.  But every time I come back, my heart is so raw that it takes me quite awhile to heal before I can talk about it much.

For now I will just post a little about back to school.  I talked to the principal at my school for quite awhile before summer started to tell her my concerns about Addie and also the other 2--what I hoped for and what I felt they needed in a teacher.  I am very happy to report that Addie was assigned to the teacher known to be the very best and the most kind in the entire school.  After meet-the-teacher-night, she was so excited for school to start.  I wasn't sure how it would go but she's doing great.  Andre's teacher, as I requested, is a young black woman named Ms. Chatman and she has a ton of sass and is super fun.  I really wanted Andre to have this kind of exposure and its awesome.  I've often read in transracial adoption books that adopted black children have a hard time relating to African Americans but I think Andre is now getting so much exposure so early that it is not going to be a problem for him to relate to kids from any race or culture.  He's amazing.  Grace's teacher seems wonderful, as well.  Sadly, she is undergoing chemotherapy right now for breast cancer and has lost her hair.  I'm giving her some of my "shandanas". :)

One really convenient thing about our neighborhood is that even though it only takes about 5 minutes to drive to the school, we are just far enough away to ride the bus.  It comes and picks up the kids right at our front door and brings them back to me at the same spot.  The first morning Jason stayed home with the littles and I drove the kids to school to help get them to their classes safely.  First Andre went in, then Grace, then Addie.  I was seriously just sick to my stomach to watch each of them nervously look around, sit quietly at their desks and then wave to me.  They all looked fine.  But for me it was too much.  After I hugged Addie super tight and her teacher assured me over and over again that she would take good care of her, I quickly left before she could see me cry.  Then the tears started coming and wouldn't stop.  I don't have the words with me or the energy to write down all the emotions of taking the kids to yet another new school and to see their brave faces as they embraced yet another new challenge.  And I worried about Addie making any friends or being bullied and I thought about our kids in Haiti...and well...anyway...I'm really proud of my kids.  They are doing so well at taking things in stride.  Much better than I am, it seems!

On their way into the school with fingers indicating their grade.

 

Off the bus right after school.  They all had a great first day!

 

Miles was pretty upset the first day when he didn't get to go to school with the kids.  I finally convinced him that "homeschool preschool" is "real" school.  He has a backpack which he fills with his preschool book, several reading books, his alphabet chart, markers, and various toys.  It is really heavy!  But he carries it around most every where--ready for school any time any place!  He gets it first thing when he wakes up in the morning and goes to choose his snack for the day out of the same basket the other kids get to choose (a baggy of goldfish crackers, pretzels, etc).  We could put Miles in preschool this year but I couldn't stand to do it.  What is wrong with me?  My first kids I couldn't wait til they were old enough to go!  Next year I think I will have to find something for him to do (well I actually already found a preschool twice/week but decided not to do it this year) because we have all-day kindergarten here.  What a shock to his system that will be!  Especially if I don't have him ever leave me for one minute of the day.  So...I think we'll do it next year.  But for now I just always want my babies as my babies as long as possible!

A few more pool pics

 Lots of photos in honor of Lila, who just turned SIXTEEN MONTHS!!! WOW!!!

 Here she is calling for her siblings "Ace" for Grace or "A-ee" for Addie (the others she calls to but we haven't figured out what she's saying yet) to come entertain her.

 Andre obliges and I am again smiling at their beautiful contrast.

 Watermelon on a hot day.  What could be better?

 This cute little angel girl.  Last week was a rough week for her.  We thought after her getting 4 teeth top and bottom and then 8 molars that we'd have a teething break.  Not so.  She got all 4 canines last week.  She was sad and cranky, feverish, and even got a full body rash.  It was no fun.  But luckily she is back to her normal sweet self.  She loves to make messes.  She loves my makeup drawer.  She loves it when the kids take her out on the trampoline after dinner.  She loves STRAWBERRIES!!!  She also like honeycomb cereal, bananas, white bread, any type of noodles, and HAM.  She is also pretty good at drinking my fruit/veggie smoothies.  We put her food on her tray at dinner time and when she gets tired of something, she throws it on the floor--even though she may reach for it later.  Except for dinner she won't get in her high chair.  She seems to have me figured out.  She knows that I will attempt to go do the dishes (within 10 feet of her still) or wash off some counters or something like that while she is all by her lonesome with her nice food.  So, I sit her on my lap and let her eat.  It works.  She's 16 months.  Not a baby much longer.  It goes too fast.  I try to keep remembering that and not allow myself to feel exasperated when she has pulled out all the books from the bookshelf again or spilled all my powder on the floor or insists on sitting on my lap while I hand her small pieces of food or spoonfuls of yogurt.  I love this little Lila Pearl of mine.

Miles Draws

I'm afraid that my older children might feel bad when they read this.  They shouldn't.  They are all amazingly smart and get straight A's in school.  But I think Miles may be our smartest child yet.  At least at this point in time compared to them at age 3.  He recognizes all the letters of the alphabet.  He loves to get out my old Scrabble game (not my special deluxe version with the rotating board, of course) and likes us to set up letters and spell out words.  He can almost write his name.  He loves to know how to spell every body else's names outloud and can do everybody in the family.  He counts correctly to 14 and then gets a little confused up to 20 but he's working on it.  He also knows my 10-digit phone number.  I like that sometimes he is asked a question like, "Where did you go yesterday?"  And he'll scrunch up his nose and ask, "How do you spell it?"  That's just a common question which might mean a lot of things to him.

Miles loves to draw.  He'll spend a good deal of time, if he feels like it, focusing on a specific drawing.  This was one of my favorites he did recently.  He even spelled "Mom" himself.  He needed a little help with "Dad".  I wrote it on a separate piece of paper and he then wrote it himself.  Aren't we a lovely couple?

Sometimes Miles enjoys coloring with markers a little bit too much.  He told me several times after, "We only draw on paper." As if to remind me, rather than himself.

 Lila wasn't sure what had just happened and at first she seemed upset, but suddenly all the big kids were laughing and she thought it quite fun!

Summertime

This summer has not been nearly the scorcher of our first summer here in Texas.  That is a very nice thing.  We have a lovely neighborhood pool (which was one of my requirements in looking for a house).  We spend a pretty good deal of time there. Its not super fun for me because Lila doesn't love the water like all the other 4 have and do.  She refuses any type of flotation device so mostly she wanders around the pool, with me slowly following her, until her feet begin to burn too badly.  She then sits down on her bum and leans back, raising her feet in the air and cries until I pick her up. 

But we've still had some fun.  Last year the pool actually got a little boring for the kids.  This summer of the crazy brain has meant I've needed to not have everything else crazy so we've been very organized with what we're going to do each day (most days) and the kids have a checklist of things to accomplish each day including chores, reading, practicing, etc.  Tuesday is our "lunch at the pool day".  I bought a huge thing of the variety bags of chips at Sam's Club and they don't even pester me about eating them during the week because they're so excited that we get to have one every Tuesday. We'll often go another time or two during the week, but this is our planned pool day.  

A few (or several) photos:

 Miles actually jumped over Grace's head, but it was a close one.

 Don't you love the color contrast of these two beautiful children of mine?  I do!

A few recent conversations

Jason and I were sitting side by side at our computers when Miles got out of bed and came into our room for about the 6th time and it was really way past his bedtime.  I just happened to be at my keyboard so I could record all of this. I wish you all could see how animated and forceful he was with each of his comments.  He uses all kinds of phrases, sometimes correctly, sometimes not, that seem far too grown up for a wee 3 year old:
Me:  Miles, why are you out of bed again?  You promised you'd stay in bed.
Miles: I saw a bunny at Easter and it scared me so I have to get in your bed and stay there forever.  That is the whole point.  A freakin bunny.
Me:  There's no bunny.
Miles:  I saw that big bunny at Easter and I know you...I want to sleep in your bed right now because I'm really scared of that freakin bunny at Easter and I'm all that point and I'm all that frustrated and I that's my point of it.  That's all my point of it.  I have to sleep in your bed right now.  That's my point.
Me:  I need you to go to bed in your bed.  You promised you'd stay in your bed.
Miles:  I want to watch you.  That will be great?  I'll pay you 20 cents if I can stay by your bed.  That will be great if I want to.  I'll pay you 20 cents.
Jason:  Miles please go up to your bed now.
Miles:  No!  Because I saw that bunny at Easter.
Jason:  But its not in your room.
Miles:  I know its not in my room but I saw another one and it scared me and that light and I don't have any questions for you right now.  I just want to stay in your bed.  I'm scared of that freakin' bunny at Easter and I'm so frustrated.  I so frustrated.  I have to sleep in your bed.  That's the only choice I have. I'll pay you 20 cents if you lay by me.
Jason:  Ok.  I'll come lie down by you in your bed.
Miles:  But that's my choice because I'm so scared of that freakin bunny. You know that.
Jason:  Miles, stop saying, "freakin'".  We don't say that.  Go up to your bed and I'll come rest by you.


Tonight while watching some Olympics:
Addie:  I'm still not sure if I want to be in the Olympics yet.  I think I do, but I'm not sure.
Andre:  I KNOW I do!   Mom, can you be in more than one sport at the olympics?
Me: I don't know of anybody ever competing in more than one.
Andre:  Hm...then I'll have to decide between...soccer, gymnastics, and maybe karate.  I don't know which one I'll choose.
Addie:  Do I have to be in the Olympics?
Me:  No.  In fact most people are never in the Olympics.  There are many athletes who have trained hard all of their lives and they never have the opportunity to be in the Olympics.
Andre:  Well, I AM going to be. 
Addie:  I haven't decided yet.