Doing the brakes

Chris is so smart with things, the other day he changed the front brakes on my car all by himself having only ever done it before a handful of times, and those mostly being watching someone else do it.  And he saved us over $150 by doing it himself. 

While he was doing it, he was trying to teach the boys a little about it too, hoping that one day they will be handy enough to do the brakes on their own cars as well (or ours!).  I love a dad who passes on his knowledge to his kids and gets them involved in what he's working on anyway.  Our kids are so lucky to have a dad like him!

Ashten and her brothers

One of the things I love about having lots of kids is watching how they all interact with each other in unique and different ways, based on their personalities and interests.  Each of their relationships with one another are different and fill a different need in their lives.

For example, Ashten has a very different relationship with each of her brothers.  With Brayden, she definitely acts the most babyish and she lets him dote on her and treat her like a little princess.  But Brayden plays right along, he enjoys being the big brother and playing her toys with her and making her feel special for who she is.

Logan is the one that Ashten usually plays the most active with.  They are usually running around together, playing hide and seek or playing outside with toys in the backyard.  They both don't like to sit still long and they both enjoy being outside, so that is how they bond together.

Preston and Ashten have a very typical brother/sister relationship.  They are the closest in age, so when they get along it is very sweet to watch and when they don't, those are some bad fights!  Preston is very sweet and loving and doting with Ashten and she loves her big brother very much.  She likes to take care of him as well, always concerned if he is sick or hurt.

It will be neat to watch those relationships grow and deepen as they grow up and mature into adulthood.  I pray that all my children remain friends once they are grown.

6

Preston turns 6 today.  He brings so much joy and energy to our home.  He can be silly and goofy and wild and he can be calm and sweet and cuddly.  He cares for Ashten so much and takes his big brother role seriously, but he also looks up to his brothers and is always doing his best to keep up with them.  I can't imagine life without our passionate and lively 3rd-born, it would be so dull!

 

Happy birthday Preston, hope your day is special and you know how much we love you!

Preston and CJ

Preston had a rough start to kindergarten.  He is pretty shy, so he didn't make many friends right away and it was a hard transition for him to go from being home all the time to being at school full-day.  But then one day, he met a boy in his class named CJ.  And pretty much ever since then he has enjoyed school and we didn't have any problems getting him to go to school in the morning.  And, as it turns out after I talked to CJ's mom, CJ had a similar story and was feeling very lonely and not liking school too much either, until he met Preston.

He is such a sweet boy and I hope they remain friends for many years!

First/Last Days of School

1st day of 4th grade

Last day of 4th grade

1st day of 2nd grade

last day of 2nd grade

1st day of kindergarten

last day of kindergarten

And now we have a 1st grader, a 3rd grader and a 5th grader!  Oh my, time is flying!!

Daddy and dresses

Sometimes Ashten is so rough and tumble and forgoes being girly for a chance to play with her brothers.  But  then there are times when she is super girly and she wants to wear dresses and pretty shoes and have her hair all done up and be told how beautiful she is, especially by her daddy, whose opinion makes her feel the most special.  

Kindergarten graduation

This year was the first year that one of our kids had an actual "graduation" as part of their end-of-kindergarten stuff.  I think the kindergarten teacher that Brayden and Logan had (who has since retired) didn't like doing one, because as soon as she retired, they started doing kindergarten graduations at the school.  It was a cool thing that Preston got for just himself, so we made a big deal of it.

After the 3 Piggy Opera, all the kids went and changed and then came back to get their "diplomas".  When each kid was called up to get his/her diploma, they also had to tell what they wanted to be when they grow up.  There was a lot of superhero, cop, ballerina, chef, etc, but Preston (and his best friend CJ) both said "scientist".  Cute!

About a week before the graduation, a note went home saying that that afternoon, after the graduation, the class would just be watching a movie, so if we as parents wanted to sign our kids out for the day, that would be fine.  We decided to take Preston out to lunch with a gift card Chris had gotten and make a big deal of him being done with kindergarten.  He rarely gets the focus solely on him, so it was a fun afternoon for him I think.

Preston with his diploma

3 Piggy Opera

Preston's class, for their end-of-the-year program, did the 3 Piggy Opera.  This has been a tradition at their school for 3 years now, Logan did the same thing.

Like Logan was, Preston was also the daddy pig.  He wore a plaid shirt, suspenders, jeans and a cute little straw hat with piggy ears sticking out of it.  His lines were:

And don't forget to write
And visit each Sunday night
And then we'll cook for each of you
Delicious, nutritious garbage stew
Delicious, nutritious garbage stew

He delivered his lines perfectly, he was very proud of his part (and so were we)!

Zoo field trips

I got to chaperone both Brayden's and Preston's class field trips to the zoo in May.  That is one of the joys of staying home, being able to be active and participate with them in school activities!  And the zoo is a perfect field trip to chaperone because I can bring Ashten in the stroller (though I think she's outgrowing that as she barely rode in it) and she is not a distraction at all.

Brayden's was first and it was a HOT day.  In my group I had Brayden, his best friend, Aidyn, and 3 other girls.  It was fun to hang out with some 4th grade girls for a change and they were all really well behaved and not catty or mean at all, which was great!  They had to find 5 animals that live in Africa (super duper easy) and 5 animals that live in Colorado (a little trickier), but they didn't have to write anything down, so it was a relaxed trip to the zoo!

The following week, I went with Preston's class to the zoo.  I only had Preston and his best friend, CJ, in my group, which was a lot easier to keep track of.  It was a cold day, and it actually rained for a few minutes while we were eating lunch.  I don't know which I prefer, a really hot day at the zoo or a cold, rainy day?  I will say though, that the animlas are more active on cooler days than on really hot days when all they do is sleep.  We got to see the tigers playing in the water, the lions eating some bones and a lizard trying to eat their hands.

This lizard was really trying to eat their hands, they thought it was the coolest thing!

CJ's favorite animal is a turtle, so we had to take a picture by this big guy!

Ashten's favorite animal is a tiger

Playing pregnant

I have a good friend, who Ashten also loves, who just had a baby.  When she was about 7-9 months pregnant, though, Ashten was so enamored with her belly.  She loved that there was a baby in there, but couldn't quite figure it out at the same time.  She would touch my friend's belly, feel the baby kick and then ask to see the baby, meaning she wanted my friend to lift up her shirt.  Soon after that, she started playing pregnant and it is really cute and innocent.

Glasses switcheroo

I am way behind on this one.  Way back in March, over Spring Break, we took Brayden and Logan to the eye doctor to get their eyes checked.  Logan was using his glasses less and less and Brayden was complaining of not being able to see the board at school and of a lot of headaches.  Turns out, Logan's eyes corrected themselves (which was the original goal of the glasses a year ago) and Brayden needs glasses for reading.  So, they did the 'ol switcheroo, which really confused a lot of people at church!  Suddenly Brayden had glasses and Logan didn't and for those who already had a hard time telling them apart, this didn't help.  I think Brayden got called Logan a few times those first weeks.

I think he looks so much older and wiser with his glasses

No more #'s

Our agency came out with an update email at the end of May that said several things:

1. Things in Ethiopia are not moving very quickly, so they are changing the average wait time that they tell people from 2.5 years to 3.5 years.  When we joined the wait list, we were quoted a wait time of 2 years, but it looks like, even after being on the wait list for 9 months, we are looking at up to a possible 3.5 years total (so another 2.5 years).  That wait time is till referral, so it will be another 4-6 months after that till she is actually home.  It was discouraging and there were some a lot of tears.
2. Because of the long wait and the inaccuracy of the numbers in the first place, they are doing away with giving families a waitlist number.  From now on, when a family gets a referral, it will list the day that they got on the waitlist, so we can see how long they waited, but we will not have an updated number.  For a numbers girl like me, this was hard.  It's hard to not have something tangible that changes, but in some ways it is freeing because now I can focus on the referrals and rejoice in those instead of obsessing about how much or little our number moved.

The day that email came out, and the few days following, I was pretty discouraged.  I didn't understand really why God would call us to adopt and get us all pumped up just to have us sit and wait around.  I mean in 3 more years, we will have an almost teenager and Ashten will be in school already - our lives will be totally different and I'm not sure we will be able to just take a step back and take the time for attachment that we will need to.  And it just doesn't seem like there is any justice for these orphans who wait and wait and wait in horrible living conditions while there are tons of family ready to bring one home.  But after my initial pity party and prayer tantrum I felt such a peace, like God's got this and I won't understand it all, but I can rest in the fact that He does.  Some days are easier than others to be patient, but I feel like I crossed a big waiting hurdle with God, like I finally am willing to lay it all down, admit I have no control and learn from the One who does.  And that's a good place to be! 

Spring soccer

All 3 boys decided they wanted to play soccer again this spring.  It was a crazy spring, weather-wise, though, so they had very few practices.  Most Tuesdays and Thursdays (their practice days) it was either snowing or had just snowed.  They missed 3 1/2 weeks straight of practices right in the middle of the season, but fortunately (?) their games never had to be rescheduled. 

Preston enjoys soccer and he is aggressive, so he's pretty good!  He has a really great coach that loves soccer and is dedicated, and that helps so much too!  His skills improved much more this year and he is looking forward to playing again in the fall.

Logan did not enjoy soccer, it's just not his thing.  He is finally figuring out his own interests and talents apart from his brothers, which is so nice to see.  Right now, music is his thing, so we are going to try and encourage that for now.  But, we did say he had to finish out the season since he had made a commitment to the team, and he was good with that. 

Brayden started out this season really not liking it, but as the season went on, he seemed to enjoy it more and more.  By the end of the season, he discovered which position he most likes to play (defense) and his strengths at that position.  He is looking forward to playing again in the fall, and also maybe reffing too!

After 8 weeks of 3 games every Saturday, we are expert soccer watchers now!  We've got our gear and our blankets and our snacks and our sunscreen and we're set.  I'm grateful for the summer break before we back to the soccer field in the fall!