Blog Hiatus

Tonight we are leaving for Ukraine to meet Alexsey! We are very excited. While we are gone I will only be blogging on our adoption blog Smiling All The Way Back.

God Bless!

Seeing the Ocularist

This morning we went to see the ocularist. It wasn't a scheduled day to see patients, but he saw Dennis. Normally the place is packed, but today it was just us------ it felt like we were royalty.
Dennis cried when he first saw the man, but today was actually his most pleasant trip ever! I think Dennis is finally warming up to the guy--- what a huge blessing since we will have a long term relationship with him and his office.

The ocularist saw what changes needed to be made to his prosthetic eye and then we were free to leave for 2 hours while he worked on it.

I took Rachel and William with me so that I could get some one on one time with them. We went to the car wash and had the inside and out washed spotless for only $13.00! Plus, the kids got free popcorn! Can't beat that!

We went back to the office, but another adjustment had to be made to the prosthetic so we were free to leave again.

William picked McDonald's for lunch--- and by eating off the dollar menu we were all fed for only six bucks!

The second time Dennis was fitted with his eye, the adjustment was great. Dennis' eye socket is changing (for the better) and in August when he has his next surgery, he will be ready to have a mold poured so that he can get his permanent prosthetic eye. It will look even better!

As I picked out the outfit that Dennis is going to travel in tomorrow night, I found out that Dennis has outgrown his size 5 1/2 shoes. I had recently bought him a pair of sandels but forgot what size they were. So I pulled out the 6 1/2 shoes-- and those were small too! So I pulled out a pair of 8's and they are just a shy too big----- I can hardly believe it! When he came home he was barely wearing a size 3.

Rachel had her ears pierced a few years ago, but went without earrings up until yesterday. We were actually discussing getting them pierced before school starts, but we both decided that we would see if her holes were still open. Only one needed a little pushing and she is cleaning them a few times a day to hopefully avoid them getting infected. She is so excited!

Went Out With the Girls.....

last night to celebrate my good friend Denise's birthday! She is the only other woman wearing glasses. We have been friends for over a decade, and she has blessed me with her faithfulness.

Is it my imagination......

or is Dennis getting cuter everyday?

Shucking Corn

A neighbor brought over 2 or 3 dozen ears of corn! Yum!

Big Time Ear Infection

Andrew is getting over his outer and inner ear infection. I took him to the doctor last Thursday before the doctor's office closed for Fourth of July. It took me trying four different pharmacies before I could get his antibiotics. Today, Andrew's ear was caked with yellow crusty stuff. Poor guy-- it looks like his ear drum ruptured in the middle of the night. But-- he says he is finally feeling better and there was no temperature this morning.

I sure hope none of the kids get sick while we are in Ukraine. Reminds me-- I've got to write up authorizations to seek medical treatment for all the friends and family who are watching the kids.

Happy 4th of July!

Today was a wonderful day filled with family, food, and fireworks!

We also did a lot of swimming, and watched numerous episodes of The Brady Bunch.

Dennis enjoyed jumping on Anna's belly while she was watching tv.

We ate barbecued hamburgers, fresh corn on the cob, and sweet grapes.

My cousin Matt got this picture of me diving into the pool. Pretty neat if you ask me.

Jonny loved throwing water at his siblings!

Julia and Dennis floating together.

Julia, Adam, and Caleb watching a movie.

Jen and Matt-- our new neighbors!

Grandma getting ready to pass out Uno cards to the kids. She is always ready to sit down and play games with the kids!

Who knows what I was lecturing the kids about. Hopefully, I wasn't too mean. ;)

Hope you had a wonderful day! God Bless!

Potato Bugs are Way Grosser than Otterpops!

I feel like all we do around here is swim and eat Otterpops! Both are just so refreshing and two of the few ways to keep cool in this 100 degree plus weather!

Dennis can no longer where his prosthetic eye without it slipping out, so I have put it away for now. The ocularist says that the eye socket has changed its shape and is now like a more natural eye socket even though it was formed by the doctor. That was the job of this temporary conformer and it looks like he will be ready for a fitted eye piece next month. However, I am going to get Dennis into the ocularist in a few days so that he will have an eye that doesn't fall out when we are in Ukraine. A referral is being rushed for early next week-- so please pray!

Dennis can now multi-task and I didn't even know it. Look at him swing and eat his Otterpop all at the same time.

Did I mention how smart my little turkey is? When he walks around our pool when the cement is hot, he rushes to a shaded spot or steps onto the grass so that he doesn't burn his little feet. Too cute!

If you look behind Caleb, you will see William-- and he is holding an Otterpop. Yes, you heard right! After lots of coaxing on my part, I convinced William to try my orange flavored one because it kind of tasted like orange juice which William loves. He realized that it was much like a frozen Capri-sun and has decided to join us when it is Otterpop time!

This morning, just Annalyn and I were swimming. I noticed something dark near the drain and asked Annalyn to go pick it up. She scooped it up with a cup and showed me that it was a huge, dead potato bug! She was totally creeped out and somehow Adam got a hold of it and started tormenting Annalyn with it. He was chasing her all over the house with it-- and she was screaming and yelling on the verge of tears. I told Adam to cut it out----- no more waving the dead bug in her face and frightening her with it. I said that if he made her run and scream again-- he would be grounded for one week. I also asked him to get rid of it.

The smart alec that he could be, he asked, "So, I can put it on her pillow as long as I don't chase her with it?"

"Adam, what do you think? Do you really think that would be okay? You need to figure that out on your own and if you want to take that risk and see if you get grounded or not, then that is your choice."

"No, mom," he said as I held out my hand.

And when he wasn't looking, I went and put it on his Nintendo DS. :)

Later when he found it, he and I had a good laugh.

They Were Better in Ukraine

I am happy that I got it out of the way. I just got home from school clothes shopping for the fourth time in the last two weeks. I think I can say that we are about done. This is one thing I didn't want to have to worry about when Alexsey first comes home.
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After Rachel begged and begged for Baboonya to make these, my Mom went out and bought apple and cherry pie filling to make Russian/Ukrainian Varenyki tonight. They are a doughy filled pocket boiled in water similar to the texture of tortellini. I took pictures in hopes of doing an awesome blog post about how great they turned out, but out of respect for the Varenyki, I will refrain from posting their picture.

You gotta remember, this blog is called Smiles and Trials, and these delicacies were nothing to brag about-- definitely more of a trial. That we can all agree on. But, we will all remember these little rubber disks that Baboonya and Rachel decided to make one day. :)
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Anna went to the Endocrinologist last week for a check-up. She grew over an inch in four months---- and the doctor is pleased. The plan is to continue the GHT for two or three more years or until we decide that enough is enough.
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Dennis can go under water and hold his breath for almost 6 seconds-- all by himself. He loves it when he comes up to find all of us cheering and clapping for him. His smile just lights up and then he quickly goes back under. It is too cute!

Awesome, awesome news!

Read here!

Over Two Years Ago

They all looked so young. Boy, are they growing up fast!

I Didn't Even Have to Ask

Our cousins Matt and Jen made the big move today! A few family and friends joined them this weekend to help them move in and John and I made dinner for everyone so you can imagine the amount of dishes for eighteen people. After dinner, I asked William to unload the dishwasher so the older kids could load and hand wash all the pots and pans. But once William was done unloading he just started loading.

"William, you don't have to do that. Thanks for unloading and now Adam and Caleb will load."

"I want to Mom. I have nothing else to do."

He happened to look over at all of us eating Otterpops and since he hates Otterpops he figured loading the dishwasher would be more fun. He can't even stand to be around people (the smell and the crunching sound) who are eating Otterpops so this insured him a comfortable distance. He even argued with Adam who insisted on helping him so that there was no chance that the dishes would have to be redone because this was William's first time doing them all by himself.

Thanks Adam and William!

An Ordinary Summer day

Nothing beats the heat on a summer day like swimming. Even I have been swimming with the kids. It is fun watching them play "the bottle cap game" where they set a bottle cap at the bottom of the pool and then get out and look for it while standing by the side. As soon as one of them spots it, they are supposed to jump in and get it. The one to get the bottle cap wins!

As for me, I prefer to float.


One summer a few of my kids regressed--- their test scores were lower when they first went back to school. So I decided to work with my kids a little everyday throughout the summer. Jonny can now count money and tell time, Sveta is finally understanding word problems, and Rachel is expanding her vocabulary with words like instinctively and burrows. Anna, Annalyn, and Julia are keeping their mind sharp with long division. William is doing a variety of work and while he is very bright, I found it interesting that he got easily frustrated when I had him do a worksheet where numbers had letters and he had to match up the number to the space with the same number and write in the letter so that he could spell out a message. This was incredibly hard for him compared to long math problems.

Sveta still cannot count money and she can only tell time to the hour. I have read that children with FAS (Fetal ALcohol Syndrome) have a very hard time learning these concepts and so far she has not learned to do either. Since they are on her IEP for next year, I think I will hold off and maybe just reintroduce her the names of the coins and their values.

Here is Dennis, William, and Andrew having fun on the swings! If you could only see how Dennis tags along and tries to do everything his older brothers do.

How are you spending your summer?

I Highly Recommend.......

this movie. It absolutely held me in its emotional grip throughout the whole movie. If you have a heart, I promise you will be touched.


Though None Go With Me