Almost a year!!!

Can you believe we have almost been home a year???? I can't. Where does all the time go. The kids are doing great. Max is in kindergarten and AJ and Olivia are in preschool twice a week. It is amazing how fast they are learning. The potty thing finally clicked with AJ in July but the last 3 weeks he has been having accidents almost everyday. What is up with that???? Olivia is a our handful most of the time. I am hoping that we are going through the trying times with her right now and her teen years will be a breeze. That's how it works right (ha, ha). Max is playing soccer and is really looking forward to going duck hunting with Papa. I have to be honest though, this mom thing is tough. These guys really wear me out. I feel like a police officer all the time. Does that ever change or at least get better? Eric is doing great. The new funeral home is now open and is absolutely beautiful. Hopefully it will not be another four months before I post again.

School is Out!!

School is out for the summer now. Max graduated and will go on to Kindergarden and Olivia and AJ will be in Preschool two days a week next year. We have them signed up for a couple of fun summer camps and vacation bible school at our church. We will be taking a family trip to Indiana this summer to see family and we are hoping that on the way there or on the way back we will get to stop by the Overstreet's in Illinois who just returned from Vlad with their son Blake. We are so excited because some friends of ours, the Fridley's, decided to take the journey to adopt a little girl from Russia. We wish them all the best for a smooth and speedy adoption.

As for us, so far this summer, Max has been doing very well at baseball. He has lost two teeth since we have been home. He has been catching fish like crazy anytime Eric gets the chance to take him and just went swimming for his first time in a lake at Becky's mom and dad's. He is looking forward to swim lessons and spending all his time fishing and swimming. Olivia did great at her school program. It was a King of the Jungle theme and her favorite song now is "No More Monkey's Jumping on the Bed." She is a princess in the making with a very serious shoe fetish. It is really funny though because as much of a princess as she is, she loves to go fishing and play baseball with Eric. She is 95% English now and talks our ears off!!! It is really funny because if either Max or Olivia say something in Russian that the other knows the English word for they are very quick to correct and use the English word instead. They are starting to get aggravated with one another for speaking Russian sometimes. Now for AJ's turn. Mr. Smiley. He is just happy go lucky 90% of the time. He just does his own thing. He loves animals, bugs, and BALL (any kind of ball). Hopefully he will make lots of money someday as some sort of ballplayer. He also loves to fish and we thought would love to go swimming too but swimming in the lake was not something he liked. Maybe by the end of summer he will warm up to it but so far that is the only thing he hasn't liked. He is a flipping fool, literally. He flips everywhere, in the bounce house, in the grass, off the couch and even in the sand pit! He is starting to speak very well since he had surgery so we think by the end of summer he will be talking nonstop too.

It has really been great seeing all of them grow physically and emotionally. They are making such amazing progress here. We see changes almost on a weekly basis. We are all looking forward to a great summer as a family!