A month of gratitude - part 1

I've noticed several friends on Facebook posting something they are grateful for each day. I thought it was a nice idea for the month that has Thanksgiving in it and decided it would be a good idea for me to take a moment each day to realize how good I've got it. Since I'd like to be able to remember this long-term, I thought my blog was a better place to document it.

Day 1 - I am grateful that surely but slowly Des and Bri are using more words to express themselves.

Day 2 - I really want to say how grateful I am that Logan found the snail that he lost in my car earlier today. But, of course, he didn't find it...yet. So instead, I'm noting how thankful I am for the Southern California weather. Today was 80 degrees and sunny while other parts of the country are blanketed by snow.

Day 3 - I am so thankful for books. I love, love, love to read.

Day 4 - I am grateful for my husband who is a tremendous help with the kids and household duties and is also my soulmate.

Day 5 - I'm thankful we live near a large community of Ethiopians and my whole family gets to benefit from their friendships and experience their culture.

September and October - a recap

My blogging hasn't just fallen by the wayside. It's fallen off the curb, been run over like roadkill and dragged back to the gutter before being swept down the storm drain. I'm going to try and get it back on track though. I haven't really done photo albums or journals since the kids have come along because I was recording family memories by blogging. So I owe it to my kids to keep at it.

Here is a recap of the past two months:

The boys started school. Logan is in kindergarten and Jack is in 1st grade.




The girls went back to preschool.


We had a court appointment to readopt the girls in California. And then celebrated by heading to the beach where I took tons of pictures.



Des and Bri have been taking weekly classes at the Ethiopian Cultural Center. Sometimes the boys also come and we try to coax them into doing a little habasha dancing. The girls were asked to "perform" at a charity event with some other dancers. I have to say that I was a bit emotional watching them strut around on stage shaking their little shoulders with other beautiful Ethiopians.


And how else would October end but with Halloween photos. Logan wanted to be "the really fast guy" AKA Flash. Bri and Des' preschool has a mouse costume that they take turns wearing over and over again every day. So what else is a mama to do but make them their own mice costumes? Jack wanted to be Wolverine but when he saw how great the girls' costumes were turning out he changed his mind (the day before Halloween) and decided to be a raccoon.

Easy Peasy Playdough

For our preschool, I usually make this recipe X 7 but I make it two batches (X 3 and X 4). That allows 8 kids to each have an ample amount of playdough at once.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup flour
• 1 cup warm water
• 2 teaspoons cream of tartar
• 1 teaspoon oil
• 1/4 cup salt
• food coloring

Directions:

Mix all ingredients except the food coloring in a mixing bowl with a whisk.


Add food coloring and pour mixture in a large saute or omelet pan. (The color with change slightly once cooked.)

Stir over medium heat until all liquid is cooked into dough.


Remove mixture from pan, allow to cool and knead until smooth.

Store in a plastic bag once completely cooled.

What a difference a year makes...

August 1 was the 1 year anniversary of the girls being home. At some point I will hopefully get it together to write a review of our crazy first year with 4 kids!

In the meantime, here is a little photo comparison:

8/1/10

8/1/11

Nah Nah Nah Nah, Hey Hey Hey, Goodbye...

The boys are back in school...Jack in 1st grade and Logan in kindergarten. Logan's preschool was a half-day program and frequently he'd fall asleep in the afternoon. This wasn't a problem until last year when naptime coincided with picking his brother up from school. Frequently his naps were not planned and he'd fall asleep in the strangest places. Well, those days are over...with Logan in kindergarten we've got to do everything possible to keep him awake after school so that he's not going to bed too late at night.

Here is a photo collection of some of Logan's unusual naps over the past year as I say "Nah Nah Nah Nah, Hey Hey Hey, Goodbye..." to Logan's naptime...

At a very loud airshow...

In his sisters' bed...

In the car...

In a laundry basket...

In a shopping cart...

On the sofa...

In the bookcase cabinet...

On a rock (yes, really...on a rock)...

I solemnly swear that none of these pictures have been staged. He is 100% asleep in each of them. I so wish I could have found the picture from a few months ago when he fell asleep on the grass in the middle of the back yard...too cute and funny!

Summer so far...

So far I am surviving summer...but my sanity is on the line every day!

So far, the boys have had one week of half-day soccer camp. All four kids have taken a weeks worth of swim lessons. The boys have weekly karate class and the girls have weekly hair appointments. The whole family (with Nana and Granddad) have had a vacation to a nearby mountain lake. Add in a Fourth of July weekend and a few playdates and you can tell that my plan has simply been to keep everyone busy, busy, busy!

Here are some of the highlights thus far (in photos):

Hair appointments:

New pets:

Karate:


4th of July (the girls' first!):
Soccer camp:


Vacation: