Summer Vacation

We've had a great, great summer! It went by way too fast. Here are some highlights:

June was pretty much spent at home. In the beginning of June, the boys went to basketball camp that was sponsored by a former player of the Phoenix Suns. The rest of the month, we spent our time swimming, playing with toys, celebrating Alemitu's birthday, and spending as much time with my sister as we could. My sister moved to Texas mid-month. I miss her, and Alemitu misses my niece Chloe. Those girls love to play together. I'm super happy for my sister and think the move is a good decision, but boy do we miss that family living by us. Later in June, we were supposed to go to San Diego with several friends, but we had to cancel last minute when I got a kidney stone.

Dressing up in Daddy's shoes & Wiggles shirt. She has 2 Wiggles shirts and has to be wearing one of them at all times.

The boys playing with their Batman guys. They stayed in underwear or costumes all summer.

More costumes

Swimming!

Alemitu playing with her birthday party balloons.

The boys watched movies and had a slumber party in our room every single night.

Birthday dinner with Cousin Chloe

This is where we swam all summer

Lunch break, then more swimming

Watching Wiggles and saving a spot for Cousin Chloe -- she had just moved to Texas

On July 1st, we headed out to Nashville to visit some good friends for several days. These are our friends that we met during our first trip to Ethiopia. They adopted a 1 year old son, and they waited for us to travel back together a second time. We bonded quickly, and we couldn't wait to spend a few days with them.

Alemitu and Ty -- they knew each other before we knew them

The boys bonded with Mallory right away.

Enjoying an Ethiopian dinner

Alemitu loved Mallory

Hollie and Alemitu dancing to the music

Sweet Ty and Alemitu

The kids at the Batman building

On July 3rd, we drove to Ohio and met my family. We spent two days at Kings Island amusement park and water park. The first day, we opened the park and closed it down at midnight (minus a few hour break for lunch and nap in the afternoon). It was the best time I've ever had at an amusement park. We paid for passes to get to the front of the line, and the boys thought that was the coolest thing. They rode on anything and everything, and Alemitu enjoyed herself even though she couldn't ride on many rides.

Wes watching a water ride . . . wait for it . . . wait for it

SPLASH!!

On July 6th, we made our way to Indiana. We spent 10 days there visiting extended family. We played games, ate good food, laughed a lot, went swimming, went to a dairy farm, went to lots of parks, went bike riding, picked blackberries, and just spent time enjoying each other. The best part was when my parents surprised my older sister and I by flying in my younger sister and her family. When I saw Jenna walk around the corner, I screamed and gave everyone a heart attack. I immediately started crying hard, and for probably 30-45 minutes after that moment, I still teared up when I talked about it. I miss my sister a lot. Even though she could only be there for 24 hours, it was amazing and I am so grateful my parents flew her in. 

My family - so blessed to have them

Cousins/Best Buds

Alemitu learning how to eat corn on the cob

At the dairy farm

Adam and Christina are both competitive, and Adam likes to talk trash to Christina (super fit sister) about how he could beat her in any fitness challenge. They had been planning a P90X challenge for about 4-5 months. They ended up having a dance off instead, and Adam made sure to dress in his dancing/workout attire.

More dancing.

Cousins having a bath. They've missed each other.

Calvin watering the corn during the drought.

Noble Roman's breadsticks!!!

In late July, we went to a Wiggles concert. Alemitu LOVES the Wiggles. The boys have started enjoying them again now that they see Alemitu watching the Wiggles -- all day long. The concert was so worth the money. As soon as the Wiggles came on stage, Alemitu started screaming, jumping, and waving. It was the cutest thing. She danced to about 2/3 of the concert, and the last 1/3 she sat on Adam's lap in a daze. She was exhausted.

Of course, the boys have Wiggles costumes

We were blessed to be able to spend a lot of Friday nights with our good friends. The boys even had their very first sleepover at a friend's house. It is so nice to have such great friends for us and the kids. They are family.

First Sleepover at Santino's House

Best Friends -- Faith & Alemitu (and Justin)

Adam didn't have to travel much this summer. It was a nice break. He did go on a couple trips in July -- including Comic-Con in San Diego. He got to meet tons and tons of actors. He also went to New York.

Adam leading his production crew at Comic-Con

New York shoot

A few days before school started, I took my boys on a date to Wet N Wild water park. We had a blast. We went on every single ride. There was this one ride that I was so scared to get on, I kept making excuses like "I don't think you are tall enough" or "the line is too long" or "I think it might be closed". The boys had an answer for all of my excuses, but I was truly terrified to go on it. At the end of the day, we got in line for one of our favorite rides and I kept looking at the scary ride. I finally decided that I would regret not experiencing that thrill with my boys . . . so we went. Terrifying, but we survived.

 Wet N Wild Water Park

The terrifying, Mammoth Falls

Wes' lunch that day -- he ate about 1/3

What an amazing summer we have had. Tonight, as I tucked my boys in bed (in their room for the first time all summer), I got a little teary eyed. While I'm enjoy getting back to a routine, I sure will miss having them around all day. I'm already looking forward to next summer!

The Boys Are 7!

 

 Wes and Calvin are now 7 year olds. I can't believe it. When any of my clients ask how old my boys are, I automatically say "5". They've been 5 for three years now. Not seven. No way.

This year we spent their birthday in Ohio at King's Island Amusement park with my family. It was so much fun. We paid for passes that allowed Adam, my dad, and the boys to go to the front of the line for all of the big roller coasters. They are not scared of any ride. The boys had a blast, and my dad and Adam had headaches. :-)

 A few days later, we threw a party in Indiana for the boys' birthday (including birthdays for Alemitu, cousin Sydney, and cousin Carter). The boys have started eating cake this year, so they were able to enjoy their birthday cupcakes.

As for Calvin, he is still a super independent guy. He is quiet, and can sit and play with his toys, draw, or build things for hours. He rarely gets frustrated when trying to figure things out. Some other things about Calvin are:

Costumes:  Calvin dresses up in costumes every single day. He will go to restaurants, shopping, etc. with his costume on. Adam and I completely support this and are not embarrassed when people stare (most people think it is cute). Calvin is being creative, and we encourage that.

Favorite things to do:  Calvin loves to dress up in costumes; draw; and build things like Legos.

Favorite food: Big roni (shells & cheese). He has recently started eating hamburgers. In Indiana on the way to McDonald's he said, "Mom, I think I want one of those things . . . um . . . I think they are called 'burgers'? They have the two pieces of bread and that thing in the middle. I don't want to eat that thing though." When we went to McDonald's, I ordered him a hamburger and made him take two bites of "that thing" (meat), and he ended up really liking it.


Sports:  Calvin really enjoyed playing basketball over football this past spring. He is also interested in skateboarding, and we will pay to get him private lessons this fall.

Personality:  Happy go lucky. Quiet. Detail oriented. Sometimes "in his own world". Rarely ever complains.

Wes has more of an aggressive personality. He is more passionate about certain things, and will tear up if he gets in trouble or can't figure something out. Some other things about Wes are:

Play:  Wes will dress up in costumes if Calvin does. Wes really likes to pretend they are different characters (Mario & Luigi; ghostbusters; etc.) even if they are in regular clothes. He always wants to be playing pretend. He likes to tell Calvin what Calvin is supposed to say, but he is getting better about letting Calvin think of things on his own.

Favorite things to do:  Play with batman guys, ghostbuster guys, and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. He loves to play the Wii -- especially when I play with him. We defeat the Mario games together.

Favorite Food: Big roni

Sports:  Wes enjoys football and basketball. He enjoys the team sports, has slightly more of a competitive attitude, and can sometimes get frustrated trying to learn the individual sports. He loves to challenge us to races. At times, I can't beat him.

Personality:  Passionate. Loud. Lover. Protector. While he can sometimes talk mean to his brother, he is his brother's biggest protector. At 1 1/2 years old, Kindercare told us that Wes is always protecting Calvin and won't let the other kids near him. Wes' coach in football and basketball is amazed at how much Wes looks out for Calvin, even when they are scrimmaging against each other. At school last year, there was a time when Wes ended a friendship with someone because that person was blaming Calvin for an incident that happened. Wes has the exact same attitude towards Alemitu. He understands her better than anyone. He takes care of her, and can't stand to see her sad.


Anxiety:  Wes has my anxiety. He gets nervous every day that we will wake up late for school (never happened). Tonight, I was having trouble getting his clock to work and he was really worried about not knowing the time throughout the night. Wes always wants to know the time. I brought in my clock for him, and then he was worried about me sleeping too late. Ever single day, Wes gets anxious about what we are having for dinner, and when we are having it. He always likes to know the plan and make sure we are sticking to it. He even asks me questions about how he will find a girl to marry one day. (He also told me that he is never moving out of the house.) The sad part of his anxiety is that he thinks about death a lot. He often talks about how he will be so sad when I die. He wants me to stay the same age so we can die together. He has asked if I will wait for him in heaven. It brings tears to my eyes every single time we have these conversations. I even cried about it to his doctor when I went without Wes. It is completely normal for kids like Wes to have these thoughts. It is more of his personality than it is anxiety. I was told to just keep answering his questions, and he'll move on.

I am so blessed to have such sweet, loving boys. They are so well-behaved, and when they do get in trouble they just sit in time-out quietly without talking back. My boys are so sweet to their little sister. They include her when they play. They get excited for her when she does something new. I'm one lucky mom.

Happy Birthday, Sweet Alemitu

We had a Wiggles Birthday Party!! My little baby girl just turned 2. On one hand it feels like she has been with us forever. On the other hand, I can't believe almost 1 1/2 years has already gone by since we brought her home. It feels like we were in Ethiopia just a few months ago. Here is a snapshot of Allie at age 2:

Measurement - 16th percentile for height/weight, but growing at the appropriate pace for her size

Attitude - Bossy; diva; completely runs our house; sweet; belly laugher; funny; cuddly

Favorite Things to Do - Play with her brothers; Watch/Dance to the Wiggles or Care Bears ("She-She")

Speech - She just started talking more in full sentences (i.e. "No Mommy, I don't want to sit down. No Mommy, I don't want to eat" -- at least she's polite about it). She also calls her grandmas and great-grandmas "Papaw". All grandparents are "Papaw". I was a little sad when an Ethiopian man recently spoke Amharic to her and her face didn't show any recognition.

Dare Devil - Don't throw her up in the air, but she loves going on theme park rides. Her favorite thing to "ride" is a swing. She loves to swing, and HATES to get off the swing.

Water - She is a little fish. She loves to jump in and try to swim back to me. She loves the pool ("Wa-Wa"), and she stays underwater most of the time she is in it.

Brothers - She adores her brothers and tries so hard to keep up with them. For the longest time, she called both boys "Wes". Then she started calling Calvin "Dough-Kah". And now she calls them "Wessy" and "Cal". Occasionally, she will yell at them in a bossy manner saying "BOYS!" or "GUYS!"

Result of head butting Wes

In the tornado ride with her brothers.

Sleeping - She is still an amazing sleeper. She sleeps about 12-14 hours a night and takes a good 2-3 hour nap in the afternoon. We've let her sleep in our room a handful of times, but it doesn't always go well. She stays up for hours, laying quietly, and playing with our faces while we try to sleep.

She has to have her baby to sleep.

Diva - Her bio mommy must have been a girly-girl because that describes Alemitu perfectly. She loves wearing jewelry ("Gee-Gee"), high heels, sunglasses, and sparkly shoes. She is very particular about her shoes.

Naked, but in her high heels

Food - She doesn't eat much, but her doctor is okay with it since she is still growing at a good pace. Sometimes she will devour her food, but mostly she picks at it. She will attempt to eat anything you put in front of her. Recently, she almost ate 2 cheeseburger patties for dinner while we were in Indiana. She loves to dip everything in ketchup ("bucket") or ranch.

Hair - She has gotten really good at sitting still to get her hair done. On occasion she will cry through it, but most of the time she sits calmly and watches The Wiggles while I braid her hair. (30 minutes - 2 hours) As soon as I tell her "All Done", she has to find her daddy and brothers to show them her new hair. I received the biggest compliment while we were in Nashville recently. An Ethiopian man was shocked that I was the one who had braided her hair. He was amazed at what a good job I did, and told me that my style was just like the girls wear their hair in Ethiopia.

Games - Alemitu loves to play little games like stealing your spot or stealing your blanket (thanks to my mom). She'll tell you to do or say something, and then she'll yell at you after you do/say it. She has a great belly laugh and sparkle in her eye as she tries to trick you with something or other.

Trouble - Alemitu definitely succeeds in running this house most of the time, but sometimes we have to be the parent and put her in time-out. Just like her brothers, she goes in time-out quietly and waits until she is released. Even though she can be demanding and bossy (i.e. yelling at people to "sit down!"), she is really a good girl.

We love her so much, and Adam and I often talk about how we can't imagine not having her in our family. She brings us so much joy and love. Here's to another great year!

Blessings from Wes & Calvin

I've had a rough couple of weeks. In the last 8 days, I was diagnosed with a bladder infection, kidney stone, and then kidney infection. We had to cancel our San Diego vacation with our friends because of this (planned for months). My old dog had a seizure with vertigo last night (emergency vet assumes), and I thought she was dying. And. Insert big sigh. My sister moved away - something I still can't discuss without breaking down. It has been a crummy, crummy week. I've been feeling sorry for myself. And that's okay . . . a little.

So each day I've been counting my blessings. I have so, so many blessings. Each day something so cute or funny happens with my kids that I want to tell everyone about. I always talk about Alemitu, so I thought I'd share a few of my blessings from Wes and Calvin:


A few nights ago, the boys were pretending to be Mario and Luigi. Of course, Alemitu wanted to play. The boys always make sure she gets some of their toys, but this time they went further. They dressed her up to be the Princess on Mario Bros. (They also said our dog was Yoshi.) To walk into my bedroom, and see all three kids dancing on the bed, pretending to be Mario and Luigi, and singing with pretend microphones in their hands --- aaahh. Life just doesn't get better than those moments. I love those moments.

This week, I also caught Calvin saying "Dammin" and Wes saying "What the hell". They had no clue that they were saying anything bad, and so we talked about words that just aren't very nice to use. Moments like these where I can sit and discuss with my kids about being "respectable young men" (per Coach Justin), are moments where I realize that life just doesn't get any better than this.

This week, I also sat down and played Mario Brothers on the Wii with the boys. I have been working with my boys to defeat one of the games. We take turns playing, and there is so much encouragement and laughter in these moments (slight frustration too if you were to ask Adam). Everytime we pass a hard level, my boys give me a huge hug and tell me how much they love me, and then they dance around the room. I'm their hero in that moment. What a great feeling. Life is good in those moments.

A few days ago, I took the boys to the splash park to meet some of their friends. When we got home, Wes turned to Calvin and said, "This was the best day ever, right bud?" Calvin agreed. Wes has a ton of "best days ever". It makes me laugh every time I hear him say that, but how amazing is that -- to have a life filled with "best days ever". 

This week, I saw the boys get a little sneaky. Aunt Jenna's birthday presents for them were shipped to our house. I opened the box from Amazon and saw the gifts inside. Nosy Wes walks around the corner and says "Mom, what's that?" I told him that it was gifts from Aunt Jenna and to keep his grubby hands out of the box. I put the box up high on our 3/4 wall between the family room and kitchen. Five minutes later, I walk into the room again. Wes has a guilty look on his face. I turn to see where Calvin is, and he is trying to climb the wall to get to the presents. My sneaky little boys.

Even though I'm sad, my life is filled with happiness and I feel it daily. Life is good. So ready for my upcoming vacation though. :-)

San Francisco

Our family LOVES San Francisco. We couldn't wait until our 8 day vacation there in May. We rented a flat that was steps away from the Pacific Ocean in the Richmond District. It was such a wonderful, wonderful vacation. The boys kept asking to move there. Wes said it was because Frisco's pizza rolls were better. Hmmm.

We spent our time at the science museum, zoo, Golden Gate park (a few times), the ocean, and Muir Woods. It was such a great break from daily life. Even though we have vacationed there in the past, there is just so much to do in that city that we have barely scratched the surface. The only bad thing that happened was when Wes got sick one night. It went EVERYWHERE, and the beds had layers and layers of thick bedding. Once Adam got him showered, we put him in the second bedroom while we cleaned up the first. A few

We stayed in the yellow flat above the garage.

minutes later, he got sick all over the second bedroom. Thank goodness the flat had extra bedding, but I had to wake up every hour to switch the laundry loads from 1:30 a.m. until 10:30 a.m. The laundry was downstairs, and I was trying so hard to be quiet and not wake up the lady who lived in the flat above us. Other than that night, the week was really, really fun.


One day we drove by a house that was having an open house, and we decided to pop in. We were the only people in the house with the owner. The owner was Korean and didn't speak very good English. The entire time we were having trouble communicating. However at one point, he asked "She isn't your daughter though, right?" We said yes. He immediately puts his fingers up in a "tsk tsk" motion shaming me and saying something in Korean and laughing at the same time. Adam and I both said, "She's adopted." He felt horrible and kept apologizing, and we were trying not to laugh. So we turned around and looked out the big picture window so he wouldn't see us smile --- only to be facing an older woman in only her bra vacuuming her house across the street right in front of the open window. We left the house trying to suppress our laughs.

Trails by our flat

I can't wait to go to San Francisco again. I love, love, love that city and I really hope that at one point in my life I will be able to live there. After all, I hear the pizza rolls are great.

Hanging out at the flat

Golden Gate Park

Our boys are artistic -- creating art with food

At the trails right by our flat

From inside the flat

More trails by the flat

Muir Woods

Adam and Calvin playing with cameras while Allie is in the background upset because she is stuck on the fence.

Golden Gate Park

Pacific Ocean

The boys experiencing a payphone.

Climbing structure at Golden Gate Park

At Pier 39