Calvin Crawling

Calvin learning to crawl.  He took off quickly and within a week was pulling up and trying to stand to play.  Here are a few video clips we put together of him taking off.  He is growing so fast!  I love all the videos of him chubby.  I am sure that now that he is crawling he will be losing a lot of his chubbiness.

Thank you Emily for helping capture some cute moments on film and preserving these precious memories for your family.

Introspection Video 2010

Another year has passed. We celebrated today our second family day with Andrew and Kathlena. Here is the post about our day on our adoption blog.

Here is Emily's Introspection Video for this year. To see how much they have changed here is the link to last years. Emily thank you for this special gift of interviewing and videoing these precious moments with Andrew and Kathlena.

Calvin 7 months

Calvin continues to amaze us with his many faces.  He loves to scoot and push back and sit up.  He hasn't quite got the hang of crawling yet, but he is very close.  I am in no hurry though as time seems to be going so quickly with him being little.  Crawling is the first step towards toddlerhood that will be upon us in no time. 
Calvin I love your smile and the way that you giggle.  You are such a happy boy.  You are learning to like solid food.  My favorite time with you is early morning when all is quiet in the house and you are still a little sleepy-eyed. 

A Great Summer Find

I recently stumbled upon this great resource- My Audio School . Many of the materials on this site are original resource materials. In our house we love to listen to audio books, especially in the hot summer afternoons or rainy days. I like how the site is structured by time periods and yet searchable by title as well. So if you are looking for a good book, old time radio drama, or biography to listen to you might find something to interest you here. I found Shakespeare, Captains of Industry--entrepreneurs of the 1800s radio dramas about their lives, A Child's Garden of Verses, King Arthur's Knights and much more. About 25% of their database of audio materials is free, but for a nominal annual fee of $14.99 you can subscribe to all of it.
We are looking forward to a summer of listening and learning!

Beach Vacation Slideshow Days 3-5

Here's another slide show Emily did for the remaining 3 days of our vacation to the beach. We had a great time.

*remember to turn off the music in the sidebar.

For some interesting silhouettes Emily took at the beach house visit Pixelation Exploration.

Returning to Tucks--1st Time to the Beach

We first discovered Tucks Landing four years ago. In fact one of our pictures from that trip we included in Andrew and Kathlena's photo albums we left with them while we were waiting on our court date. So, they have been wanting to visit this place for over two years now. We had planned to visit in late September of 2008, but hurricane Ike changed our plans. As a result much of the landscape has changed from when we last visited, but thankfully Tucks was still standing. We enjoy Tucks because it is off the beaten path therefore the beaches are not usually crowded, in fact we only saw a few people the entire time we were there. This particular area is also known for it's large variety of shells. We still found this to be true. When we went in 2006 we were picking up sand dollars every time the waves went out. While we didn't find as many sand dollars we did find many very nice and intact shells that we brought home as souvenirs.
For Andrew, Kathlena and Calvin encountering the ocean was something they had only heard of or read about in a book. The excitement and wonder you can see all over their faces in the slide show video below. Kathlena was cautious at first, but once she got a taste of the waves she was hooked. Andrew just ran to the waves without much hesitation and loved laying on his belly in the sand while the waves rolled over him. Calvin did not care to much for the cold water and sand, but enjoyed the serene atmosphere that lulled him to sleep.






My favorite part of the trip was laid back time with my family. Sitting and talking. Laughing and playing. Discovering and discussing. A nice introduction to summer. Below is a ten minute clip of our trip that Emily our video/slide show expert put together. Thank you, Emily for digitally preserving our beach vacation memories.

*remember to turn off blog music in the sidebar to listen to video

Furry Muffins--Emily and Kathlena's Story

It was already a stressful morning, the day we leave for vacation always is. We had woken up well, let's just say not as early as we would've liked, we still had most of the packing left to do, and we were trying to get to the beach in time to swim, but we hadn't even got breakfast finished yet. Mother was making Blueberry Muffins when Kathlena and I (Emily) came in to help. After what seemed like forever the muffins were at last ready to go into the oven. I greased the muffin pans and set them on the counter between the oven and the pantry. I heard footsteps above me "I guess somebody's in the attic" I said. "Dad's looking for another Rubbermaid tub" Mom replied. (This time we decided to go to tubs instead of suitcases). I turned to empty the dishwasher, we all were relieved that the muffins were finally going into the oven. Mom went over to pour the batter into the pan, Kathlena went over to watch. I was bent over the silverware drawer with my back to them when I heard a loud crash behind me and Kathlena scream.. I turned to see Dad's right leg hanging from the ceiling directly above where Mom stood.

There was a yellow cloud of insulation pouring down all over Mom who was still pouring.

It was all over her, the floor, the counter, and...

...the freshly poured muffins.

It wasn't so funny when it happened but by the next day we were able to laugh about it and the following week after our vacation we had it repaired. After we paint over it you'll never even be able to tell that the hole was there.

However, the incident was quite traumatic for Kathlena, for some time afterwards she was shaking so badly that she couldn't speak other than "it was so scary". But after awhile even Kathlena was able to laugh at it...at least a little. Now she has fun telling the story over and over again for her brothers who missed out on the action.

Here's Kathlena's side of the story captured on film:

We arrived at the beach house without further incident though we didn't make it in time to swim. Andrew and Kathlena were simply beaming with excitement as you can see in the pictures below.

J.Michael's 12th Birthday

J.Michael has been looking forward to turning 12 for some time now.  Twelve means he can play paint ball and that is what his Dad chose to do for his birthday--Father/Son Paintball with friends.  Twelve also means he will be able to finally attend Men's meetings at church.  This is something he has been looking forward to participating in for almost two years now.  Twelve is such a time of change...bittersweet for Mom as she sees her little boy no more, but a young man emerges in what seems to happen almost overnight.  J.Michael has grown to eye level with me over the past year; he is a gentleman and huge help with his younger siblings.  I think Calvin was 5 months old before I ever carried him in his car seat carrier, because J.Michael always got to him first. He loves to take things apart and fix them...like lawn mowers.  He also loves to hunt and fish.

Before:

After:

Dinner:

 J.Michael's favorites: Mom's homemade Fried Crawfish, Salad w/ranch, and tea

Lots of candles this year!  His cake, a new favorite Fudge Brownie from TCBY Yum! And yes, he did blow all the candles out.

"Little Prairie on the House"

Daddy took Kathlena and I (Emily) to see the Little House on the Prairie Play at the Hobby Center starring Melissa Gilbert as 'Ma'. Kathlena called it "Little Prairie on the House" and I'm not really sure what she was expecting to see but we all had a great time. :) We met up with some friends for a Father/Daughter dinner at the Cheesecake factory before the play.

We all had dressed up for the occasion and had our pictures taken outside.

Kathlena loved wearing her "fonnet"

From there we caravaned to the play, there was a twenty minute intermission between acts 1 & 2 and us girls got to talking about the play. Everything was so beautifully done, the casting, the set, the music, the lighting, the effects and we all agreed that it was the closest thing we had seen to the books. We all went home wanting to read the series all over again.

Kathlena's 5th Birthday

Our sweet, active, keeps us in stitches laughing Kathlena has turned 5yrs old today. It seems impossible that 5 is already here. Just yesterday she was this little toddler/infant who was learning to speak only a few words of English and now she is talking and asking questions about everything around her. Her witty sense of humor and keen observations of life around her are evidence of phenomenal growth in such a short time.

She loves to run, jump, and play with her big brothers. She loves to sing hymns with her big sister Emily-her favorite song being How Firm a Foundation. She also loves to listen to Emily on the piano. She has such a love for music. Her swing in the backyard is a favorite place to pass the afternoon away. She continues to enjoy books and has begun to "read" the pictures and read books to her dolls and Calvin that she has heard so many times that she has memorized them. A few favorites are The Very Hungry "Caterkillar", The Grouchy Ladybug (well all Eric Carle books) My Big Green Pocketbook, Lentil, Harry the "Dury" Dog, If you Give a Mouse a Cookie and The Napping House to name a few.

Kathlena is very proud of being able to hop on one foot and can hop on either foot. She has also learned how to march and enjoys marching around the house. Her favorite job is still helping Mommy though. She is great at helping me in the kitchen always ready to sample Mom's new creations as well as old favorites...just to make sure it is still good! She makes sure everyone has a neatly folded napkin at their place and forks or spoons according to the menu. She is a great "food runner" too as we get a plate ready she runs it to the table to whom it belongs. She is also a big help with her little brother Calvin and is enjoying her new role as "big" sister. A role she has transitioned into pretty smoothly. Sharing Mommy and Daddy in a big sister role has been a good growing experience for her. She continues to grow in confidence in her place in her family.

Kathlena began her birthday with breakfast at Eden's Cafe with just Daddy. Below are pictures from their breakfast. Kathlena had scrambled eggs, fried potatoes, fruit, and water. Kathlena said Daddy had Coffee, scrambled eggs, fried potatoes, and fruit also. Kathlena said her favorite part of the breakfast was that Daddy gave her the rest of his scrambled eggs. It is no secret that Kathlena's favorite food is "scrambles" eggs. I believe she could eat her weight in them if we let her! :)
It was also special because their server is a friend of ours from our church youth teaching days. Thank you Amber for making Kathlena's breakfast with Daddy special!


Later we all went to a special concert that our friend Inna told us about. A friend of hers was doing a piano concert benefit for autistic children in Russia. Irina Svrovna is the friend who put on the concert. She played beautifully and we enjoyed listening to her. Here is a picture of Emily with her. Kathlena enjoyed getting dressed up and an evening out of listening to a piano concert.

After the concert we headed home for Kathlena's special request birthday dinner. She wanted beef steak, stir fried carrots and vegetables, and mashed "uhtatoes". Her favorites which Mommy is glad to fix for my sweetie just turned 5 year old daughter.



Kathlena with the Very lonely Firefly by Eric Carle that Emily gave to her. She knows her sister well!

Cash!!! Kathlena opens her gift that came in the mail from PawPaw and
Grandmommie. The look on her face says it all.

Another favorite book If You Give a Cat a Cupcake...thank you big bubbie!

Andrew picked this out for Kathlena. It is a great game that we can play as a family. It helps kids to use synonyms for the word or act it out while others try to guess.

A wooden baking cookies set from Daddy and Mommy. Kathlena loves to pretend cook and really help cook in the kitchen. I look forward to eating some yummy pretend cookies soon.

The part K has been waiting for...drum role please! Blowing out the candles!

Great Job! You got them all!

Chocolate cake with ice cream in the cake. It hardly gets better than this! We love you sweet Kathlena. You are growing up too fast, but with each passing year we love you more and praise the Lord for you.