On our trip to Park City we bought each Thing a pair of shoes. A couple of days later we went to my Clothes & Shoes supply in the garage and I opened a bin loaded with sports stuff and cleats. OMG! it was Christmas morning! They each found a pair of soccer cleats to wear. I thought, oh cool, those will be fun when we play soccer. Well, they have been wearing them ever since. The only time I have seen them in other shoes is when we go to church.
We picked through the clothes and found some more fun things to wear, but they really have their favorites so we just keep washing those.
When they first got here they kept their room very picked up. The other day I walked by and saw clothes and stuff everywhere. I was relieved and glad to see that they were normal kids! I was beginning to wonder if they thought our house was too messy for them because it has not been too picked up since they got here but now I can relax about all of that.
Can I just say that these beautiful children are amazing and my life will never be the same again. We are so happy they have found their way into our lives!
Tuesday, November 2, 2010
Sunday, October 31, 2010
You want ketsup on that!?!
We were told by the group that the kids needed hot soup everyday, like Borscht. Well we were trying to give them plain and simple foods thinking they would like this, but we have been learning.
Side note - my friend who speaks fluent Russian came over and was able to download a phonetic Russian keyboard and through a translator website, we can communicate pretty well. You type in one language what you want to say, it shows the translation in Russian or English and then it shows below in the original typed language what you typed and how it was translated. Well, let me tell you, it doesn't work right all the time. There is a lot of "wait, no, no, no" and try again going on. But, for the most part, we can communicate better.
Okay, so Thing 1 said he would like soup so I found a Borscht recipe and spent, I don't know, way too long making it. Well, I happened to make it the same day as Boy17's birthday and papa comes home with, you guessed it, pizza. Well, apparently, pizza is universal. So everyone had pizza! Papa said he would try the soup, but I wasn't going to. Nothing looked good about it except the color. It is made with fresh beets and turns a beautiful color. So, there it sits in the garage fridge.
Another universal food - Ketsup! They like Ketsup on everything. Oh honey, I mean everything. It took all I could muster up not to puke when Thing 1 loaded his oatmeal with ketsup! I went to the store and bought one of those Costco sized bottles of ketsup and Thing 2 thought it was the best thing in the world.
I have to say we are Americanizing them though. Today we had quesadillas with beans, ground turkey cheese and salsa and they loved it.
Everyday, I have watched them eat more and more. It makes me glad to see them eating until they are very full. I think they were just trying to eat politely at first. Apparently, after a few days at our house, they realize that "politely" is not a necessity.
They also love chips. I am on my third box of multi-flavored chips from Costco. We get into the car and everyone wants chips. I cleaned out the car and I took so many empty bags of chips out of the car, unbelievable!
Their favorite soda is Sprite. Thing 1 knows that I like diet caffine-free coke. Thing 2 was drinking it and Thing 1 told me how the dye in that soda is poison and isn't good for you. I told him he should tell Thing 2, that I didn't want to tell him. He said no, not Thing 2, but me! I should not drink it. It is not good for me! Well, what could I do. I told him I wouldn't have it anymore. I must admit that I sneak it once in a while when he is not looking!
Side note - my friend who speaks fluent Russian came over and was able to download a phonetic Russian keyboard and through a translator website, we can communicate pretty well. You type in one language what you want to say, it shows the translation in Russian or English and then it shows below in the original typed language what you typed and how it was translated. Well, let me tell you, it doesn't work right all the time. There is a lot of "wait, no, no, no" and try again going on. But, for the most part, we can communicate better.
Okay, so Thing 1 said he would like soup so I found a Borscht recipe and spent, I don't know, way too long making it. Well, I happened to make it the same day as Boy17's birthday and papa comes home with, you guessed it, pizza. Well, apparently, pizza is universal. So everyone had pizza! Papa said he would try the soup, but I wasn't going to. Nothing looked good about it except the color. It is made with fresh beets and turns a beautiful color. So, there it sits in the garage fridge.
Another universal food - Ketsup! They like Ketsup on everything. Oh honey, I mean everything. It took all I could muster up not to puke when Thing 1 loaded his oatmeal with ketsup! I went to the store and bought one of those Costco sized bottles of ketsup and Thing 2 thought it was the best thing in the world.
I have to say we are Americanizing them though. Today we had quesadillas with beans, ground turkey cheese and salsa and they loved it.
Everyday, I have watched them eat more and more. It makes me glad to see them eating until they are very full. I think they were just trying to eat politely at first. Apparently, after a few days at our house, they realize that "politely" is not a necessity.
They also love chips. I am on my third box of multi-flavored chips from Costco. We get into the car and everyone wants chips. I cleaned out the car and I took so many empty bags of chips out of the car, unbelievable!
Their favorite soda is Sprite. Thing 1 knows that I like diet caffine-free coke. Thing 2 was drinking it and Thing 1 told me how the dye in that soda is poison and isn't good for you. I told him he should tell Thing 2, that I didn't want to tell him. He said no, not Thing 2, but me! I should not drink it. It is not good for me! Well, what could I do. I told him I wouldn't have it anymore. I must admit that I sneak it once in a while when he is not looking!
Three Hours isn't so long!
We told the boys we were going to church early the next morning. We have 9:00 o'clock church. Honestly, I don't remember how I told them, but I did. That morning I went into their room with their church clothes and they both looked at me like, uh, I don't think so. But being the sweet boys that they are, they agreed. Thing 1's pants were too small but with great friends and a few phone calls, we had a pair that fit him quickly.
Backing up for a minute...I have to tell you about the first time they saw their room. The night we showed them around the house we took them into their room. My good friend loaned us a bunk bed and I watched their faces when they saw their room. Their eyes lit up and they were thrilled to see their beds. I motioned to Thing 1 as to which bed he wanted and he smiled as he pointed to the top bunk. It was really cute!
We had our missionary translator meet us at church so Thing 1 could have a translator with him. Thing 2 really didn't care if he knew what anyone was saying. He went to class with boy8 and had a really great time. Our missionary friend gave Thing 1 a Book of Mormon in Russian and he read like four chapters during class. Our friend had to leave by Sacrament meeting. Again, Thing 2 was fine and did really well. He only got restless the last 10-15 minutes. Not bad! I wanted to make sure Thing 1 was okay so during Sacrament I put a piece of paper between us and we played tic-tac-toe. He beat me time and time again. Apparently my brain has been completely fried over the years. After that, he drew pictures. What an artist he is!
Church was great. When we got home I motioned that they could change their clothes and they were so relieved. They are good sports!
Backing up for a minute...I have to tell you about the first time they saw their room. The night we showed them around the house we took them into their room. My good friend loaned us a bunk bed and I watched their faces when they saw their room. Their eyes lit up and they were thrilled to see their beds. I motioned to Thing 1 as to which bed he wanted and he smiled as he pointed to the top bunk. It was really cute!
We had our missionary translator meet us at church so Thing 1 could have a translator with him. Thing 2 really didn't care if he knew what anyone was saying. He went to class with boy8 and had a really great time. Our missionary friend gave Thing 1 a Book of Mormon in Russian and he read like four chapters during class. Our friend had to leave by Sacrament meeting. Again, Thing 2 was fine and did really well. He only got restless the last 10-15 minutes. Not bad! I wanted to make sure Thing 1 was okay so during Sacrament I put a piece of paper between us and we played tic-tac-toe. He beat me time and time again. Apparently my brain has been completely fried over the years. After that, he drew pictures. What an artist he is!
Church was great. When we got home I motioned that they could change their clothes and they were so relieved. They are good sports!
What to do? What to eat?
The first morning, we were not sure how to communicate. What would they want to do? What do they want to eat? How was I going to ask? There was a lot of hand gestures and talking loud and slow, like that was going to help. English isn't any easier slowly if you don't know it to begin with. But, we managed to give them food. We had prepared this big breakfast of pancakes, eggs, sausage thinking they would be hungry. They each had one small pancake and nothing else. Oh well, no worries, if its one thing our family knows it is how to eat. We managed to finish the rest. The kids played more soccer and then we had an activity to get ready for.
We met the group at the swimming activity. Thing 1 went and hung out with his friends but stopped to say hi to us once in a while. Thing 2 played with boy8 and girl5 a lot. Then, dad got into the water and well, if you know dad, it was all fun from there. Thing 2 did not stop smiling from that point on! We made a train on the lazy river and they went round and round and round. I was kind of bummed because I forgot my camera but other people took pictures for me. Boy3 did not want to get in the water so I had to sit on the side with him. The train looked so fun that I finally took him in the water screaming so we could join in with everyone. We had a great time!
After swimming we took them to Park City. We wanted to buy them Vans shoes. It is a family favorite brand of shoes. It was pouring raining and scary driving but we made it. We had three cars as girl21 came along to shop with us. We stopped at Wendy's to eat. Thing2 had the best time serving all of us our food. He played waiter and was still all smiles. We had the whole restaurant to ourselves. Thank goodness cause we take up a lot of space and no one was there to complain when we started to play frisbee inside the restaurant.
Off to shopping. Thing 1 had his shoes picked out immediately, but Thing 2 could not decide. We got each of them a hat and when we finally checked out, Thing 2 could still not decide. But, at the very last minute, he picked out a pair that were the same as dads. Thing 2 loves papa!
We did some more shopping and headed home. On the ride home, they both fell fast asleep. All that travel finally caught up to them.
We met the group at the swimming activity. Thing 1 went and hung out with his friends but stopped to say hi to us once in a while. Thing 2 played with boy8 and girl5 a lot. Then, dad got into the water and well, if you know dad, it was all fun from there. Thing 2 did not stop smiling from that point on! We made a train on the lazy river and they went round and round and round. I was kind of bummed because I forgot my camera but other people took pictures for me. Boy3 did not want to get in the water so I had to sit on the side with him. The train looked so fun that I finally took him in the water screaming so we could join in with everyone. We had a great time!
After swimming we took them to Park City. We wanted to buy them Vans shoes. It is a family favorite brand of shoes. It was pouring raining and scary driving but we made it. We had three cars as girl21 came along to shop with us. We stopped at Wendy's to eat. Thing2 had the best time serving all of us our food. He played waiter and was still all smiles. We had the whole restaurant to ourselves. Thank goodness cause we take up a lot of space and no one was there to complain when we started to play frisbee inside the restaurant.
Off to shopping. Thing 1 had his shoes picked out immediately, but Thing 2 could not decide. We got each of them a hat and when we finally checked out, Thing 2 could still not decide. But, at the very last minute, he picked out a pair that were the same as dads. Thing 2 loves papa!
We did some more shopping and headed home. On the ride home, they both fell fast asleep. All that travel finally caught up to them.
The Airport
We were all very excited to get to the Airport to pick up the kids. It was like waiting for Christmas morning. Even though we knew their plane was delayed, we got to the airport by 10:00 pm. One of the group leaders came up to us when we got there and told us that Alex Cabrero from KSL Channel Five wanted to follow a family for the evening and would we like to do it. I said sure, it should be fun. So he interviewed Andy and I separately and then kept a microphone on me for the evening. We were waiting to be told our group had arrived but no one ever did. Finally we were asked which kids we had and were told that they were there. When they brought the boys over to us it was great to see them in person. I saw them and thought, wow, they are really here. Of course they were really shy and were probably thinking we were nuts. We all just stared at each other for a while. I will refer to them as Thing 1 (the older) and Thing 2 (the younger).
My friend has taught me how to blog and she refers to her kids by number/sex so that is what I will do.
Okay, back to story. We tried to communicate with the kids, took a group picture, then a family picture and drove home. We have to take two cars everywhere we go so I drove most of the kids and hubby drove some. It was the quietest car ride I have ever taken. I love to talk, but, what was I supposed to say. I also love to listen to music when I drive but wasn't sure if that would be annoying to them because it is all in English. So we silently drove. I thought, well, it really wouldn't be that long, but, they were condensing I15 down to one lane and we were stuck in traffic for a very long time. It was like midnight, why weren't all these people at home!
When we got home our missionary friend met us at our house at 12:45 am to help us show the kids around the house. We all were not really tired after that so I thought maybe I should find something on YouTube for the kids to keep them entertained. I asked my kids and they directed me to this recording of all these near accident. I didn't know what it was so I started to play it and it was kind of scary. I was like, No No, they are going to think we are absolutely crazy.
Then, we pulled out the soccer ball and that's all it took. The kids all went out in the backyard and played soccer until 2:00 am. We sat outside and watched. It was sooooo much fun. I didn't have to worry about us being loud for the neighbors because no one could really talk to each other so all you heard was the ball hitting the fence.
We finally went to bed sometime after 2:00. It was a great start!
My friend has taught me how to blog and she refers to her kids by number/sex so that is what I will do.
Okay, back to story. We tried to communicate with the kids, took a group picture, then a family picture and drove home. We have to take two cars everywhere we go so I drove most of the kids and hubby drove some. It was the quietest car ride I have ever taken. I love to talk, but, what was I supposed to say. I also love to listen to music when I drive but wasn't sure if that would be annoying to them because it is all in English. So we silently drove. I thought, well, it really wouldn't be that long, but, they were condensing I15 down to one lane and we were stuck in traffic for a very long time. It was like midnight, why weren't all these people at home!
When we got home our missionary friend met us at our house at 12:45 am to help us show the kids around the house. We all were not really tired after that so I thought maybe I should find something on YouTube for the kids to keep them entertained. I asked my kids and they directed me to this recording of all these near accident. I didn't know what it was so I started to play it and it was kind of scary. I was like, No No, they are going to think we are absolutely crazy.
Then, we pulled out the soccer ball and that's all it took. The kids all went out in the backyard and played soccer until 2:00 am. We sat outside and watched. It was sooooo much fun. I didn't have to worry about us being loud for the neighbors because no one could really talk to each other so all you heard was the ball hitting the fence.
We finally went to bed sometime after 2:00. It was a great start!
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