Who says make-over parties are just for girls?

Ok, so we headed to Lake Charles on Friday so that Ali and her friend, Sierra, could attend Abby's 9th birthday party. (Abby is our niece) Well, have any of you heard of a Club Libby Lu party? Well, Lake Charles is fairly small...so they have a local version called Club Tabby. You can check out this website http://www.clublibbylu.com/ to see what it was like. It was cute. The girls get their hair done complimented with crazy colored hairspray, nails painted, make-up, dress up clothes, walk a runway, etc. Ali, being anti girly girl, just had blue spray in her hair and nails painted. She left the other stuff for the younger girls. It was cute watching them all strut their stuff on the runway! Well, I will admit, Clark decided that NO girl was upstaging him...yes, he jumped right up there and strutted his stuff also. You will see in the pictures that someone stuck a PINK hat on him...we are still searching for the culprit of that one. Ha! We secretly called him "Hef" during the party (as in Hefner!!) They called each girl up by name and had them walk the runway...at the end, they leaned down and asked Clark his name...and called him up there as well. Too funny! After the party, Ali and Sierra headed over to Abby's for a sleepover. They stayed up until at least midnight and were awake again by 7:00am! Needless to say, Ali and Sierra slept most of the way back home.

Clark is registered for preschool! We finally made a decision on where to send him in the fall. I fell in love with a small program at a church very close to us. They only allow like 28 children total...and that is spread between 2,3, and 4 year olds. I think he will have maybe 10 children in his class. The director was so sweet and I just felt at peace that it was the right place for him. It is actually called "Mother's Day Out", but they have very structured days with crafts, letters/numbers/etc., chapel, memorize a Bible verse every week, gymnastics once a month, story-time, etc. I think he will love it. He was able to take a tour of his room. He will attend twice a week from 9-2. They bring their lunches also.

This week Ali and Clark made stepping stones for our front patio. I wanted to get his little hands and feet in stone while they were still small. Nona and Poppy gave them the kits for Christmas. They turned out cute. Ali made the state of TX, and I put Clark's hand and footprint on his. He is so proud of it. Every time he walks by it he has to talk about it. Pretty cute.

We decided to let Ali attend her first summer camp in July. She is attending with 2 of her best friends...Ashlyn and Sierra. They are all so excited. It is a Lutheran camp located in La Grange, TX (in the hill country). Check it out http://www.lomt.com/ ! It looks like so much fun...Ali loves the outdoors. We drop her off on a Sunday, and pick her up on Friday. I think it will be a great experience, and opportunity to meet many different people.

Ali was asked to move up into the next level in swimming. She is now expected to swim a minimum of 8 hours per week. EEK! Oh and I already felt like we lived at the pool. Ha! She loves it though. She will swim 2 hours 3 evenings during the week, and 2 hours on Saturday mornings. She and Sierra also want to join the same summer swim league that they were on last year. It is our community swim league...Dickinson Gators. I suppose we will let her do that, I mean...why not swim every SINGLE day of the week...right? Ok...not really, but it feels like that. I think she will swim mostly with her normal swim team and just occasionally with the summer league...mainly she wants to participate in the weekend meets to see how she has improved from last summer....and to see her friends that swam last year.

We only have about 24 days of school left...yahoo!!! We are SOOOOO ready for summer. We leave for our little vacation in 19 days, but who is counting? Ok, we are!! Destin...here we come!

We were in the living room this afternoon and we thought we heard Clark playing in the front room. It was a strange sound so we called him...no answer. T.C. went into in there and found Happy's nose plastered to the front door and the noise continued. There was a snapping turtle at our front door. It was seeing his reflection and snapping at it. T.C. had to pick it up with a shovel and take it back to the ditch beside our neighbor's house. Interesting thing to find, to say the least.

Have a wonderful week!

birthday party

A swim meet weekend...

Well, we spent our entire weekend either at the pool or driving to/from there. Since the pool was an hour away at least 2 hours each day were spent in the car. Ali's friend, Sierra, spent the weekend with us also...as her parents were busy this weekend and couldn't get her to the meet. So...we also had giggling girls for 2 days. :)

Ali swam in 6 events between the two days...her last being a 200 meter freestyle. She was exhausted after that! She did well...all we ever ask of her is to do her best. That is all we can ask of her. We don't care if she comes in first or last, if it is her best. What I have really enjoyed seeing her learn is what being part of a team means. Learning to encourage the other team members, even though some are much stronger swimmers than she is! I love that. I love to hear her tell a friend that she did great, even though I know it stings a little that one of her friends is a super talented swimmer and comes in first a lot. They cheer each other on, help each other out, and encourage one another. That is what I hope she takes from this experience!

Our poor little Clark man got TWO bloody noses this week! As if spinning around on the trampoline and hitting one of the poles wasn't enough, he ran into another pole at the pool today and it happened again. He doesn't really look where he is going...like EVER! I was holding his hand and watched it happened, but couldn't do anything about it. I hate situations like that...where you want to protect them, but it is too late. I look over and his poor nose was pouring blood. We were so glad he didn't hit his teeth! Let's just say between the bloody noses and a few falls scraping up parts of his legs...he has had a rough few days. Hopefully we will have an accident free week. I should get used to the scrapes though...with having a boy, right?

Hope everyone has a great week....it is after 9:00pm and we have been gone all weekend. I will close this for now.

swim meet

Lizards...the new obsession!

Our children are obsessed with lizards. They catch them all the time and put them in containers to observe them. Even Clark has taken a liking to the little critters. Our bushes out front are sometimes covered in them. The other day, one unfortunate catch had to endure a ride in a plastic boat in Clark's water table. Then, that same lizard was brought inside and Ali had it climbing up Clark's shirt. He thought that was the greatest thing. (meanwhile I am thinking...oh yikes...if that thing gets loose!)

On Saturday morning, Clark gets up and goes into Ali's room. She is already awake and had her window opened enjoying the fresh morning air. I walk in and find Clark sitting beside her, both staring out of the window. It was so precious...that of course I had to get a picture. They later curled up under the covers for a minute. I love moments like this!

Saturday was our "work in the yard" day. Oh what fun...or not. We wanted to take advantage of some cool weather so that we were not melting while in the yard. We knew we would be tied up the next two weekends with a swim meet next weekend and our niece's birthday party in Louisiana the week after that. So..we planted flowers all afternoon. Ali was all ready to help out...then she quit after she claimed some pots for herself and planted her 4. Ummm, thanks a lot kiddo! She picked out some pepper plants, mint, and lemon basil for her pots. The neighborhood bunnies have already taken a munch out of some. Bummer, hope they don't eat them all up. Any suggestions on keeping bunnies out of our plants?

The pictures of Clark feeding the ducks were taken last week. While Ali swims, we have been walking around a lake in a neighborhood close to the pool. The lake has ducks that Clark enjoys feeding. They come waddling up when you stop on the sidewalk. We have enjoyed our evening walks very much. (not sure how we will feel in July when it is 100 degrees out...ha!!)

We are in the middle of writing our first "post placement report" for Ukraine. For the first 3 years after adopting you must have a social worker write a report on the child's adjustment, etc...then one has to be done every 3rd year until the child is 18. Ours has to be into our agency by June. We, however, want ours finished before we go on vacation in a month. It is fun thinking about how far our little guy has come since being home. He has been an amazing trooper! We are so blessed to have a friend here that is a licensed social worker. She has offered to do ours free of charge! Actually, we are writing it and she is reading and signing it...she might add a thing here and there if she chooses. We really just need a copy of her license to put with the report.

Have a wonderful week everyone!

feeding ducks, our yard, and lizards...

A couple of matching cuties....

Even though Ali is 11, she still thinks it is pretty cute to match her brother. But the pictures prove it.......of course they are cute!!! :) She waited a long time for them to wear these shirts. Quite a while before we even went to Ukraine, Ali had a little gift card for the Disney store. She decided to spend it on matching shirts for she and her future sibling...we just chose a neutral print in the smallest size they offered.

Ok...so here is a visual for you...as of Sunday, we are some of the newest members of Hope Lutheran Church. We were supposed to go down front during worship with the other 6 families that were joining at the same time. We do, and we thought all was going to be fine. Then it happened, Clark decided he didn't want to JUST stand down front...why not lie down where we take communion...yes, that sounded perfect to him. So he does...we try to ignore it...and then he decides lying down is a little boring...why not kick his feet all around in the air. T.C. was closest to him...so I lean over and ask him to please grab Clark...he does...but we quickly find out that moving is just not on his list of things to do right then. So he puts up a squirmy, whiny, etc. fight. We TRY to act like all is well...hoping everyone just ignores the noise coming from the small child that T.C. is holding on to. Shew, we were a little relieved when we were able to head back to our pew! Then, the church held a potluck lunch for all of the new members...that is where the pastor introduced us all by name. We would stand up from our table so that people could see who we were. Here is our introduction from our pastor..."and this is T.C. and Rachel Judd, their daughter, Ali...and son, handful Clark." Everyone got a big kick out of that while T.C. and I were just shaking our heads! He later comes over to our table and tells us that he can say that because he has a 3 year old grandson that acts the same way...Ha! At least we are not alone.

Clark for sure can be a handful these days, however, he also brings unspeakable joy to our lives. His language is coming along everyday. It was funny over the weekend he had told me something several times because I kept asking him to repeat it (I didn't understand him)...he finally looked at me and said "uh, I told you 2 times." T.C. said, "well I guess he told you." Yes, I suppose so! As of April 16th, he will have been home 8 months. I just can't believe it. The time is passing so quickly. Before I know it he will be heading off to college....haha, ok, getting a little ahead of myself.

Mickey shirts

Our Saturday....

We woke up this morning and planned to taking the kids to ride the trolley along the beach in Galveston. We get there....and the trolleys were not running today. Just our luck. Clark was not very happy about that. However, there was a neat bird show going on that we were able to watch. The kids also HAD to go to their favorite old fashion candy/ice cream shop and watch the man make taffy (they do a demonstration every Sat.) and catch a few free pieces they he tosses out. Ali loves salt water taffy, and always talks me into letting her get a couple of dollars worth. We surprised the kids afterwards and took them to have lunch at Rainforest Cafe'. It is so expensive that we do not go often...Clark had never been. He was mesmerized by the entire inside of the restaurant. When the thunderstorms would start, and the animals started moving...it scared him a little. I walked him around when we got there and he liked the gorillas from a distance, but when I asked if I could sit him down to get a picture...he said "no, too scary!" He was brave enough to touch the elephant's trunk and would you believe that right when we reached over to touch it that it started to move and he about jumped out of his skin. I felt so bad. But, all in all he enjoyed being there. That is one of Ali's favorite places to go. Though she has only been to Rainforest Cafe' about a handful of times in her life at different locations. It is a special treat when she does go.

Clark was invited to his first real birthday party today. It was a pirate party where they had a live interactive little pirate show.He had a great time...though it got a little long for Mama! A zillion screaming kids running around for almost 3 hours got to be a bit much. Hahaha...but in the van heading home he said it was really fun, so it was worth it. It was a little boy from gymnastics class.While we were partying it up...arrrrghhhh matey, Ali and T.C. went to a movie and had some great Daddy/daughter time.

Galveston and birthday party

Our new schoolroom is now complete....

Well, this weekend we finished transforming some wasted space in our bedroom to a new schoolroom. We love it. It is working out great. Ali loves having her own desk (she wasted NO time in decorating it with personal items!). All we have left is to get her cork board hung and for her new chair to come it. We ordered it and it is on its way. I wonder why we didn't think of doing this before? I even made a shelf for Clark with books and a basket of small toys. He loves sitting in his little chair and looking at books...or playing on the rug.

The pictures of our cats.....well, we thought we could buy a little scratch pad for Angel since she isn't declawed. So...T.C. picked one up at Wal-Mart the other day. He gets home...follows the instructions and sprinkled catnip on it...and OH MY GOODNESS. The goofy cats wouldn't leave it alone. Angel doesn't scratch on it mind you...but they take turns lying across it. Especially Happy...who is declawed...AAARRRGGGGHHHHH!! I think our cats are retarded. Ha! Happy jumped up on the counter and wouldn't leave the box it came in alone...he just kept licking the box for the longest time. Maybe Ali dropped him as a kitten. :) So good thinking on our part...just not the outcome we were hoping for. So we must come up with another idea so Angel quits using the couch as a scratch post!

Clark had his speech evaluation today. There was also a child psychologist that joined the evaluation along with the speech pathologist. They seemed to think that he is adjusting great and that his speech will come along without help. He can be re-evaluated in about 6 months if he isn't improving like we think he should be. But, as for now...we just wait and see. She said it was really too soon to tell since he is still learning the language. They did give me some exercises to try at home to help with a couple of sounds. They both think he needs to interact with other children more often. They said children learn language best from other children. So, we will look into a Mother's Day Out program (their recommendation). He does attend Sunday School with other children and is in gymnastics...so hopefully a day or two a week of MDO will help even more.

new schoolroom

Exploring a little bit of TX

T.C. was able to take off on Friday. After some research, we found a neat place that we wanted to explore. It is called Sea Center in Lake Jackson, and is only about 45 minutes from here. http://www.texasexplorer.com/SeaCenterTexas.htm It is a fish hatchery and has a great exhibit on local fish, touch tank, salt marsh, etc. (the best part is that it is FREE...nothing is free anymore!) Anyway, the kids really enjoyed it and we will definitely be going back again. Clark was a little unsure about sticking his hand in the touch tank...though he loved looking at all the crabs, etc. He did get brave enough to touch a hermit crab that Ali was holding. We were talking yesterday about how before we brought him home, Clark had most likely never even seen a fish...much less be expected to stick his hand in some tank...haha. Wonder what he was thinking?

Well, our big job for the weekend is making a schoolroom change. YUCK! Since we moved into this house, Ali and I have done school in our dining room. However, now I would like our dining room to be JUST that...our dining room. I am a little tired of walking through our front door and seeing school books. So...we have decided to move our schoolroom upstairs. We have a rather large bedroom and it is pretty much wasted space. We have decided to divide our bedroom up and use half for school. We are going to use bookshelves as our divider...pretty clever, thanks to T.C. for coming up with that idea. We are going to our favorite store today to get Ali a new desk and bookshelves. You just gotta love Target...$30 for bookshelves...SWEET!! However, I am not looking forward to emptying the shelves that we currently have so that we can move them. Oh well, it will be nice when it is complete.

Oh yes, I will explain the picture of Clark vacuuming...he has a fit when he sees me vacuuming...so sometimes I give him a turn. Well, he LOVES it. What can I say? Our upstairs vacuum is very light so he is able to push it easily. Why would we extinguish that desire?

Here are pictures from Friday...

Sea Center, TX

Clark never ceases to make us laugh...

Well, I don't have anything real exciting to write about...so I will tell a couple of Clark funnies! Yesterday T.C. was holding his hands and letting him flip around over and over and over and over...he absolutely loves to do this, and we can't for the life of us believe his little body is that strong. Anyway, T.C. was talking to me and said "I wonder if he could do the iron cross" (he was kidding) and Clark overheard and jumped down and did the sign of the cross on his chest. We do the sign of the cross a couple of times during the worship service at our church,and have been teaching Clark how to do it. Well, buddy he heard cross and wanted us to know that yes, in fact he COULD do it!! Too funny. Also, we have been teaching Clark "The Lord's Prayer" before bed. He knows about half of it and now we are working on the second half, which is taking longer with more difficult words to say. Anyway, the other night we were working on the second half and got to "Give us this day our.." and Clark blurted out "PRESENTS"!!! It was so funny but actually I think he was thinking of the next line "trespasses" and couldn't say it. I guess presents sounded good enough to him. Oh the boy makes us laugh!

Remember I mentioned a couple weeks ago that Clark was bothering one of the girls in gymnastics and she was making mad faces at him. Well, this week he was so proud after gym and he told me "girl no mad face." Guess he actually quit following her around and making her upset.

Happy Easter

What a glorious day as we have celebrated the resurrection of our Lord! We started our day with our daughter serving our breakfast at church. She had a fun time (mainly goofing around with her friends) helping this morning. We then had a beautiful church service.

This afternoon the kiddos dyed their Easter eggs. Ali then dressed up like the bunny, rang the doorbell, and Clark answered the door. We can't figure out if he ever figured out that it was Ali. Too funny!

A few pictures from our day....

Easter

Easter came early around here....

Don't tell Clark, but the Easter Bunny came early at our house! My parents came on Thursday, but had to leave tonight(Sat.)...so we decided to have Easter early around here. They wanted to see Clark get his first Easter basket. Let me tell you just how cute that was! He was so excited he just didn't know what to think of it all. The kids woke up to find their baskets, then we headed off to Easter Jubilation at our church. It was an Easter extravaganza for the children. The Easter Bunny was in attendance, crafts galore, singing, the presentation of the Easter story, snacks...and to top it all off it ended with an egg hunt outside. The weather was wonderful! The kids had a great day. After returning home, we cooked a nice dinner and then my parents had to head home. T.C. actually has tomorrow off, which will be very nice. Tonight is his last night for this flight and it will be back to normal hours on Monday...hip hip hooray!! Ali's age group at church is helping to cook breakfast tomorrow for the entire church. She will pull an hour and a half shift. That is right up her alley, as she LOVES to cook. It should be fun for her.

It was so cute...Ali decided to have her own egg hunt for Clark this evening. She stuffed some eggs and hid them outside...then told him the bunny left them. It was hilarious...he came equipped with keys attached to his pants and his toy cell phone hanging from his wrist. At one point he said "wait"...and proceeded to stop, answer his phone, and then finally got back to the business at hand. Oh boy!!

Here are photos from our day...

Easter came early!!

Oh the things we endure!!!!

I hope our kids know just how much we love them. We ENDURED the spring break crowd (just about every spot was taken in the HUGE parking lot) at Space Center Houston so that Ali could attend a "High School Musical 2 Dance Party" and Clark could see Diego in costume....and my only words are OH MY GOODNESS! Well, anyway...it was all worth it when we caught parents joining in on the dance lessons. We even caught some on tape...it is wrong, I know...to video people without them knowing...I should feel more guilty. However, just watch the videos and have a good laugh. The parents were trying to dance their way to a free poster for their kids....well, my wonderful husband leans over to his precious daughter and says "I will just buy you a poster"...and she responded "good idea." Haha! Man, these men deserved SO much more than a poster.

We hope everyone has a wonderful Easter weekend with their families. We are looking forward to the first Easter with our son home...what a blessing! May we all marvel at the resurrection of our Lord and Savior.

Space Center Houston

Story-time, a ride on a horse, and a whole lot of water!

Well, with T.C. working the space shuttle mission that is up right now...that means he is working weird hours. (go in late in the afternoon/early evening and works until the middle of the night)With those hours means he is here with us some of the day. He was able to attend story-time this week and see how well Clark is interacting. Today we went to a children's program at one of the local malls. They had horse rides, a magic show, a clown making balloon animals, etc. He loved riding the big horse...he looked so tiny on that big thing! He really enjoyed watching the clown make the animals also. He also got to wave at the Easter Bunny. (that sure brought a huge smile to his face!)Then, after we ate dinner the kids wanted to play with the water table...and boy did they!! They were drenched...head to toe! They had the best time...they really prefer to just throw the water on each other. Ha! After getting soaked they slid around on the trampoline. They love that trampoline...one of the things they really enjoy doing together.

Clark is going to be evaluated by a speech pathologist on April 1st to see if he needs any speech therapy. His speech is really coming along...but we would rather be proactive than wish later on down the road that we HAD done something.

Here are just a few pictures from this week.

library, horse, water table

Soapbox.....

I am going to get on a soapbox for a few minutes and vent about a show T.C. and I ran across the other night. I admit...we do a little channel flipping in the evening...generally landing on my favorite show "House Hunters" (etc. etc.). However, this particular night we turned to TLC and found a show called "The Secret Life of a Soccer Mom." http://tlc.discovery.com/tv/soccer-moms/soccer-moms.html To try and explain this relatively quickly, it started off with a stay at home mom that "gave up her career or dream to stay home with her children." Blah blah blah! Now she will be given the opportunity to see what she gave up and in the end she will have to decide whether or not to follow the dream...or remain home. The show we happen to watch caused many comments and much irritation with T.C. and me. We couldn't believe this gal was actually crying because she gave up her dream of being a chef. When did being a stay at home mom become second best? Why is it that people like this give those of us that don't feel that way a bad rep? I mean, isn't it totally acceptable to feel like you wouldn't change being at home with any career in the entire world? Oh my goodness...if I had a chance to be with my children day in and day out or be a world renowned surgeon...you better believe beyond a shadow of a doubt I would choose my children. I have the best job ever! I get hugs when I want them, I get to guide them, watch them explore their world, discover new things, kiss their boo-boos, and be the constant in their lives all day every day. I get a first hand seat watching our daughter blossom into a lovely young lady (and try to see past the hormone cloud that occasionally looms above)right before my very eyes on a daily...minute by minute...hour by hour basis. I am the one that gets to talk her through the grumpies, guide her when I see her not reaching her potential, and kiss her just because. I am the one that gets to rejoice over our son speaking more clearly, learning a new word or short sentence, guide him through his new whiny stage, and relish in the fact that God chose this amazing little boy to be our son...all day every day! No, it isn't easy...mothering isn't for the faint of heart. It is a tough job. I am not here to say that you can't be a working mom...give me a break...my mother was a working mom and did a great job juggling everything that she had to juggle...and I am definitely no worse for the wear. I am just here to say that it is disheartening that society puts some sort of second rate take on being at home with our children....like we all gave up these amazing dreams when we decided to be at home. Can't this be our dream? To see up close and personal as our children grow and develop...to be their encourager all the while? Well anyway...just had to give my 2 cents...any comments?

Coming to a magazine near you...

Ok, maybe not...but we sure think they are pretty darn cute! I decided to be cheap this year and take our own Easter pictures. They turned out pretty well...though it did take a while. Clark lasts like 2 seconds when it comes to being still. You will see a shot of him pouting because I wouldn't stop taking pictures. (heehee) Then there is the one of Clark laughing and Ali about to choke him...aaah, the joys of siblings. She really does love him. Ok, and you can't miss the video clip of Clark dancing....who said white boys can't dance? He is dancing to some Ukrainian pop music that our facilitator gave to T.C. before he left Ukraine. Pretty funny stuff...enjoy. Oh goodness, Clark had gymnastics this morning and we had to have a talk afterward about leaving the girls alone! The other boy that is in the class wasn't there today...so it was just Clark and 3 girls. One girl hates when he comes up and sits RIGHT next to her...he doesn't know the personal space rule yet. Ha! (he did come from Eastern Europe...there is NO such thing as that over there) Anyway, he did it again today and she was getting so mad...she would get up and scoot over and he would get up and move by her again...over and over and over this happened. He finally had to take a turn on the mat and left her alone. We got in the car and started having a discussion about leaving this girl alone and he all of a sudden said "girl had mad face like this (and he showed me the face she made)" it was priceless and I did have to laugh!

Easter pictures

First Easter egg hunt!

Well, another first for the little Clark man. He attended his first egg hunt this morning at our community Health and Nutrition Fair. It was held at the high school football field. It was a cold start to the day...40 and windy when we left home. It began with a "parade" around the track following behind the marching band and dressed up characters. Then, it was followed by the egg hunt. (we cheated and put him in the age group below so that I could go on the field with him...only 2 and under could have a parent...his height has advantages at times..ha!)Anyway, since he had NO clue about egg hunts we figured he needed a little guidance. Boy was I completely WRONG! All I said was "see all the eggs, just picked them up and put them in your basket"...and off he ran...overflowing his basket. It was so cute. They announced that there were 2 golden eggs in each age group and the finders would win a bike! Well, I spotted the egg in the middle and point him in the right direction and off he ran...........right past it. So needless to say he didn't win the bike...I couldn't bring myself to be the mom that grabbed the eggs for my kid. However, after he finished gathering eggs we went down to watch Ali's age group and low and behold Ali started sprinting towards the golden egg and got it. She won a beautiful new bike and she was so thrilled. She outgrew hers, so it couldn't have been better timing! Her long legs are to her advantage sometimes. Let me tell you, nothing or NO ONE was coming between her and a free new bike! She is my child...free is a wonderful word! After some inflatable bouncy houses and a little train ride...we were off to check out the firetrucks. Clark was in heaven, as you can see by the pictures. He loved being inside the truck...he sat down proudly and quickly reached over and put on his seat belt. It was so funny...the fireman got a huge kick out it. He said "at least he knows how to put his seat belt on!" Then we checked out some helicopters and actually watched a life flight helicopter land right in front of us. All the kids loved watching that and sitting in them all. Ali's friend, Sierra, spent the night and joined us today. All I can say is.....GIRLS...and preteen girls at that. WEW...the giggling never stops and neither does the talk of all the boy bands that are out. I am including a picture of Ali's bedroom door...JONAS BROTHERS. For those of you with kids this age, you know who I am talking about. Ali loves their music...but claims she doesn't think they are cute. Ha, I am not buying it...but whatever!

Well, enjoy the pictures and have a great weekend...I am going to enjoy the rest of ours.

Dickinson egg hunt

Easter preview...

I just wanted to post some pictures of Clark in his Easter outfit. Isn't it cute? Thanks to his Aunt Paula and Uncle Jay...they spoiled him with that cute outfit. He was a riot when I was trying to get a few pictures...he would pose this way and that wanting me to take his picture. I am going to take Ali and Clark to a nice park soon for Easter pictures. I thought about going to the mall, then thought, heck I will just take them myself. Ali didn't want an Easter dress this year...she is growing up. She hates dressing up...she prefers to wear simple skirts to church. So that is what she chose...a skirt and top...not even Easter looking, but that's ok!

This weekend in our community there is a huge Easter extravaganza of sorts. There are craft booths, Easter egg hunt, the bunny will be there for pictures, inflatable things to jump in, a firetruck will be there along with the EMS and a SWAT team. Clark will love all that stuff and Ali is just glad the egg hunt goes up to age 12! Ha! She hates getting left out of getting free candy...heehee! Should be fun for them and I sure hope the weather is nice.

We found out yesterday that Clark still has giardia. I did a little research digging on my own and discovered the pharmacy gave him the wrong medicine last time. Long story...we were traveling and the order was called into a pharmacy in Indiana. I think there must have been a mix up along the way. Anyway, he didn't end up taking the correct medicine and therefore still has giardia. I am going to pick up the CORRECT medicine today and please pray that this gets rid of it once and for all. Another prayer request at the moment is that we are able to get him into the preschool at the school right down the street from us (for the fall). It is only available to children with English as a second language and he has to take some language test to be accepted. I explained to the teacher that his language is definitely behind and she said that she can test him in April. I hope he gets accepted. It is free (and free is always GREAT) and would be so good for him! It is for kids just moving to the states from other countries and are behind with language. I also have been in contact with the speech department for the school district. They are going to evaluate him and see if he might need speech therapy. They don't have any appointments available right now, but said it shouldn't be that long.

Well, that is about it right now. Enjoy the photos..we think he is pretty much too cute for words! The photos of the eggs are beautiful hand painted eggs from Ukraine. You can get them made out of wood or actual real eggs blown out. I only brought home one real egg as I didn't know how they would travel. However, the painting is gorgeous on them all. We love to have things out during the holidays to remind us of Clark's birth country.

Easter preview

Our weekend...

We loaded up the van late Friday afternoon and headed to Nona and Poppy's house. Clark had been asking for them for days...so we gave in! My brother and his family joined us all for lunch on Sat., then we took the kids to a park on the lake. They all had a great time. I can't believe it, but I actually forgot the camera! (I take the camera EVERYWHERE..ugh!!) Uncle Jay, Aunt Paula, and Abby gave Clark his baptismal gift...which was a darling backpack with his name on it. It is his "things to keep him busy during church" bag! He is so proud of it. He HAD to wear it into church, after church, around the house...he LOVES it. It will be perfect for preschool in the fall. Well, Clark has been asking to "go play at Nona and Poppy's house" all day long...oh and all the way home last night. He doesn't get that we just can't pop over there. One night just wasn't enough time for him...we keep telling him that they will be here for Easter.

Well, round 4 (I think, but I have lost count) of vaccinations has proven to be just as hard on his system as the other rounds were. He becomes a whiny, puny, mouthy terror...ummm, did I just write that? I mean well, ummm well...I don't know what I mean. Vaccinations make him so grumpy and whiny. Let us hope it doesn't last all that long.

I hope everyone has a great week. We went around to several garden centers today trying to decide what we want to plant in our backyard. It is a blank slate right now. We took pen and paper with us to add it all up...OUCH...trees are NOT cheap.

new backpack

We have a heavy weight in the house.......

Clark had to go to the doctor for 3 vaccinations this morning. He is finally caught up for his age! He told me when we got home that he was mad at the doctor and that his leg hurt. Ha! The best part, however, is that he has finally gained and grown!! YEAH!! He is now 28.8 lbs. (ok, so he did have on heavy jeans and long sleeve shirt) and he was 36 1/2 inches tall. He came here weighing 27 lbs. and was 34 1/2 inches tall. (Aug.) So in 6 months he has grown 2 inches and I am so excited. Maybe he will actually be ON the growth chart soon. I thought his jeans were getting a little shorter on him. (ok, so they are size 2T...it's about time, right?)

Both kids are fighting colds at the moment. Ali has felt the worst by far, and Clark is the one that gave it to her. I am not sure where he caught it...maybe church or gym class? You never really know.

Big sister got a hold of him....

Last night Clark comes downstairs with a marker beard on his face. What a hoot! Ali decided to give him a beard and a photo shoot...a total riot. T.C. and I have books called "Capture His/Her Heart" and Ali grabbed T.C.'s book and had Clark hold it. OH MY GOODNESS! We cracked up. The poor little guy has no idea that now I am placing his cute mug on the WORLD WIDE WEB.....what kind of mother am I? One that thought others might get a little laugh also. Ali also made a sign for him to hold (she meant I'm available...but put "I'm open"...which is so funny!!)

Not much news around here...just wanted to post pictures. We found another park this weekend that we hadn't visited yet. The kids loved it and are ready to go back. It is called "Challenger Park" and has walking trails, playgrounds, etc. Clark slipped in some gross looking water and about lost it. He was so upset. Both feet got soaked, as did part of his pants....but he recovered and continued playing. He sure loves playgrounds...Ali did too at that age. His new word as of this weekend is "everything." Really funny when not used correctly.

We are finally going to have a little vacation after several years...Ukraine didn't count. The stress level was TOOOOO high to count. However, we are finally going back to Florida. We haven't been back since we moved from there in '99 when Ali was 2 1/2 years old. We hope everything works out...I mean you never really know. It is still almost 3 months away....but we are counting down the days already. Ha! We will go the middle of May. We will be staying right on the beach, so the kids will really LOVE that. Ali will get to see one of her little playmates while we are there. I will rephrase that...they were little at the time...they won't recognize each other now. Ha! Most of our friends from that time were military and thus have moved away.

Enjoy the silly photos!

Challenger Park

Just a little trampoline picnic

I look out of our bedroom window this afternoon...and this is what I found...the kids were having a little mini picnic on the trampoline. It was so incredibly cute that I had to grab the camera and run outside. Don't get me wrong, they can do their fair share of bickering...but it is moments like these that I truly know they DO love each other. Ali packed up a few little snacks and grabbed Clark for a trip out to the trampoline. A funny little side note, when I get outside I notice them staring at the trampoline net and they informed me that there was a spider on the net that neither of them would kill. Daddy had to go out and save the day!

So we discovered the other day, though we already suspected it, that we have a little Ukrainian PLAY-AH (player) on our hands. T.C., Clark, and I had to do a little Target shopping while Ali was at swim practice the other night. We were loading the van up with our bags when I notice that Clark is STARING intently at something in front of us. I look up to see what it is and I find a young blonde getting into a little red sports car. I die out laughing and T.C. joins in the laughter. I lean over and ask Clark if he thinks she is pretty and he smiles and says "yes." I then ask if he wanted to give her a kiss and he smiled yet again and said "YES." I then begin to tell him that he can't kiss girls he doesn't know, and without missing a beat he smiles and says "she kiss me." Ha....oh what have we gotten ourselves into? The proud Papa added "the objects of his affection are always easy on the eyes." At least the boy has standards. Teeheehee!

Clark has had a good week and that is always a blessing. The fits have calmed down now that we are back on his normal schedule. The trip up north was difficult on him...being out of his normal routine, etc.

I will close with a few pictures of their picnic.

trampoline picnic