Everyone is back to school :(

Andrew technically started first.  He’s in college this year.  He’s attending a local community college, this year and maybe next year.  He participated in a program in high school where the state pays his tuition for a minimum grade point avg, min. attendance, and participation in a mentor program at another of the schools in the district.  One of his classes was an “intro to college” kind of class and he took it the week before the rest of classes started.

My big boy, going to his first college class:

The next week, the middle kids started.  Madelyn is a sophomore this year and Tyler is a 7th grader.  They both start much earlier than last year.  I am not a morning person – I think the school district is trying to kill me!

My middle kids:

 

(What a trauma getting this pic!  Too much smiling, not enough smiling, too giggly, not looking at me, just general silliness!)

And then the little kids started the week after that.  They both go mornings, Mon. – Thurs.  Dasha is in the classroom that Jack was in last year and Jack has the teacher he had his first year at school.  They both like going (but are happy to see me when I pick them up – yay!).

This is actually after school, since I wasn’t efficient enough to get one before!  Jack decided to help Miss K clean the classroom, so she provided him a plastic glove which he wore until I made him take it off for lunch!  What a goof ball!!

So things are going okay.  Too stinkin’ early for me, and M has crazy amounts of homework daily, but everyone is adjusting.  (Me – I’m still mourning summer break and waiting for the next one!)

Lake Trip – part 2

Everybody loves water.  We have all decided that we should live here!

Dasha has learned to swim!  See how far away she got by herself?  She’s really out there!

Okay, just kidding.  Andrew is with her but we made him go under for the pic!  See the ripply spot to the left of Dashlyn?  That’s him.

And here’s the house and dock and the dock and boat– it’s the last one in the cove.  Best spot on the lake!  It’s shallow enough that we can stand until you get just about 1/2 way across the cove, but deep enough to dock a boat.  And very calm water – rarely do we get big waves so it’s super good swimming.  Perfect!

I have to show off the inside of the house.  My in-laws are updating a bit (even though it was already gorgeous) so there’s no flooring but there will be some beautiful Pergo down soon.  It’s a lake house so it’s all about easy maintenance ya know!

The kitchen:

And 2 of the living room:

 

I didn’t take any of the bedrooms or bathrooms – I forgot.  (The upstairs bath is really cute.)  Next year I can post pics of those rooms and the pretty new floor!

Thanks Mom & Dad!  We had an amazing time!

Lake Trip – part 1

My in-laws are so nice to let us use their vacation home and we go usually every year for a week or so.  It’s so much fun and a relaxing trip.  Miss D got to go on her first boat ride!  And swim in the lake!  Those life jackets for little kids called puddle jumpers are awesome!  Jack & Dasha both love them.  And both felt confident enough to swim (or float) independently.

We love hanging out in the house:

 

And hanging out on Grandpa’s cool boat is even better!

Jack loves to drive!

Of course Dasha had to try it too!

More pics to come!

Family Float Trip

I guess I forgot to post this long ago back at the beginning of July when we went.  Oh well, it was still fun!  

Dasha’s first float trip!  I think this was Jack’s 4th :).  This year we had 3 rafts, 8 canoes, and 2 kayaks.  There was about 3 fewer people on the trip.  Everyone stayed in campers (no cabins this year).  We had beautiful weather.  The kids enjoyed hanging out on the river bank to swim and eat lunch.  It was so hot this year we didn’t enjoy campfires like we have in the past, but it was still nice to visit and just relax.  Dashlyn was, as expected, a big hit!

Uncle Dave declared this a kid-free zone but guess who did not get kicked out?!?!?!?

 

Lunch anyone?

Everyone takes turns hanging out with these 2 awesome, precious, fun little ones!  How did we get so lucky to have them in our family?

My amazing view:

M getting ready to jump off a cliff – and I let her!  (Even in a life jacket, look how gorgeous she is!)

And we took our usual family photo – us in our blue shirts!  Someone got a great shot of the WHOLE family – but it wasn’t me :(.  I’ll steal it and post it later!

2 exciting meet-ups

And unfortunately, my pictures are not so great. 

First off, my kiddos and I got to hang out with Braska and her mom, RK and her sister Kinlee.  Not so unusual, right?  But this time the Loraine family was there (including newest member Oksana, home from Ukraine about a year now) and the Stumbo family (with former Ukrainian Nina, home for about a year and a half).  We met at an indoor play place where the kids (and the grown-ups) had lots of fun!  Of course we forgot to line up our little former orphans for a pic, but I do have one from meet-up #2, which you’ll have to wait for!  But here’s what I did get:

Dasha loved the slide :)

 

Jack loved all of it!

And they both loved Nina’s walker!!

The next day we had meet-up #2 with guess who?  Well, besides RK and her girls, the Loraines and Stumbos again, and my awesome friend Adrienne, we caught the Garcia's on their way to their new home in CO from TN.  It was my first time meeting up with the famous Kennedy and family :).  The kids are just as cute in person as they are in cyberspace and Kassidy is just as sweet!  Again, my camera readiness was sadly lacking so not a lot of great pics but I did get a few:

Moms – Renee, Adrienne, Ellen, RK, Erin, and me.

All 4 adopted Ukrainian princesses – Oksana, Kellsey, Dashlyn, and Nina.

And my sweet Jackson (trying to stay out of the girlie pic!).

If I can get pics from some of the other moms I’ll try to post again!

Cutest Thing Ever!

I was sitting on the couch folding laundry this morning.  I try to sort into piles as I go.  Jack decided to help, and pulled shirts out of the basket to “fold” and put on a stack.  Oh, how I LOVE him!  Can you see his pile??  So dang cute!

Awesome, cool, must-see blog post

No, not mine!  (Though it would be cool if it was mine.)  No, this post was written by a new friend, Tammy, whose daughter Joy wrote and sings a beautiful song.  The link was sent to me by another friend, Cindy.  I know Cindy IRL (in real life), and Cindy knows we adopted Dashlyn and how our hearts have changed since we learned about these sweet orphans.  So she sent the link and I went to check it out and was so moved I wrote to Tammy to ask if I could share her daughter’s song with all of you.  She was so generous and said “yes! please do!”.  So here ya go – click HERE to hear the song &/or read the words.  And don’t be surprised if you enjoy the rest of Tammy’s blog as well!