Happy New Year! (Part 2)

The kids have been enjoying staying home and playing with their new toys, games, and movies this past week with Dad (I worked Weds-Fri). Tonight they were having a lot of fun playing with play-dough. Elijah got a building set that makes I-beams, wrecking balls, bricks, etc., with play-dough the colors of wood, bricks and concrete. But the girls played too, and some older pink play-dough came out. They were all being so silly and having so much fun!

Tomorrow Jock goes back to work and the kids go back to a full day at daycare - it's pajama day, so Elijah was very excited. Less excitement about PJ-day from the girls. Tuesday we have another day at home. I plan to make Haitian Pumpkin soup - a traditional dish prepared on New Year's Day - also Haiti's Independence Day (more on that later). Today I made the spices that will be used to marinate the meat, and we used some of it for supper tonight - mmmmmmmm!!!

Wednesday will be another full daycare day for the kids, followed by two school days to finish out the week. The younger two were a little confused by this week's schedule, but it's going to get a little more confusing soon, because...

Jock and I are going to Haiti; James is coming home!!! James' final exit paper was either ready on Friday or will be ready tomorrow. It seems we should have gotten that news on Friday, but somehow it didn't come until today -- all that worrying and grumpiness for nothing! (Actually, I've found that towards the end of this adoption process, that on the days when I was absolutely at my wit's end, were days that we received good news, or something good happened that we heard about later. God is good!)

Tomorrow we will be working on travel plans - contacting our travel agency for flight options, contacting GLA for approval, and then booking flights! We are very excited! Packing is under way (actually has been for a few days, as we anticipated things moving very quickly when we got the news. More details on that when we know more.

Happy New Year! (Part 1)

Each month, since we got our referral, approximately the last day of the month we get an update from GLA. It usually includes 4-5 photos and a little write-up about what's been going on at the orphanage, any milestones that have occurred, and height/weight measurements.

As the month came to a close, a couple friends excitedly mentioned getting updates soon. I honestly wasn't very excited to get another update - I was a grump! The closer we get to the end of this process, the harder it is to wait. James' visa is printed and in the hands of GLA. We are waiting for one last piece of paper from IBESR that will allow us to exit the country with James, but the holidays have delayed this slightly. I avoided the conversation. I didn't want another update - I just want my son in my arms.

Yesterday was especially difficult. I thought and hoped we'd hear yesterday that James' IBESR exit paper was ready and that we could make travel arrangements. But when 4:00 rolled around and we still had not received word that James' final paper is done and travel approval dates, I was seriously bummed. Soon after, I got our update in my email inbox. I read the text of the email, but reading that it was a video, I saved it for after supper, so we could all watch it together as a family.

Boy, was I wrong about this month's update! Month after month, Susie has blessed us with wonderful photos and words about our son. I can't tell you how much of a blessing these are, and this month's update takes the cake!

Susie must have spend the entire month putting these together for 80+ children! This month, she put together a wonderful gift for each adoptive family - a musical slide-show in chronoligical order from the time our child(ren) entered the orphanage until now. It is set to the song "Kings and Queens" by Audio Adrenaline. And just a couple warnings: I may or may not have watched this video at least 10 times by now. I may or may not have been able to watch the entire video without the last slide bringing me to tears. I may or may not have cried through the entire thing at least once. Have your Puffs handy just in case!

We love you too buddy!  We'll see you very soon!

 

If you haven't see the original "Kings and Queens" video done by AA for that song, go watch it here. Audio Adrenaline supports an orphanage in Haiti called Hands and Feet. The song is about answering the call to care for orphans. The images in his original video are all of Haitian children.

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year!

2012 has been quite an eventful year for our household! Some highlights:

• We received and accepted James' referral in January.
• Kaylen turned 9 in January.
• Elijah & Josephine played basketball in the winter.
• Kaylen played spring soccer.
• Josephine turned 5 in May.
• Jock and I traveled to Haiti in May.
• Kaylen & Josephine had their first dance recital in June.
• Elijah turned 6 in August.
• Kaylen started 4th grade, and Elijah & Josephine started kindergarten in August.
• James turned 2 in August.
• Kaylen started tumbling lessons this fall.
• Elijah & Josephine played soccer this fall.
• James' Haitian adoption decree was finalized this fall.

In 2013, we look forward to another eventful year, including bringing James home very soon!

We wish you all a blessed Christmas, celebrating the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ with your family and friends, and many blessings in 2013.

And we leave you with our two favorite Christmas photos of the kids, along with a song that has special meaning for us this Christmas.

James' Visa Appointment

Thursday morning (12/20), we slept in. We were in the midst of a blizzard here in Iowa, and we knew before we went to bed Wednesday night that the kids didn't have school and we'd be staying home. Watching the news of the blizzard and road conditions when we did get up, I had my laptop handy to check emails. I saw I had a message on the web portal from our adoption agency, with the subject, "Scan of your exit stamps". As usual when we get a new message, I logged in right away to read the following text:

The US Embassy has scheduled James's appointment for TODAY, although GLA never received notification of his appointment (they received a phone call yesterday informing them of today's appointment). Can you please scan in a copy of your exit stamps on your passports for xxx to take to the Embassy today? She has your entry stamps and photos of you with James on file that she will use. If you could do this as soon as possible, that would be great. Thanks!

(This proof that we had visited James before his adoption was finalized, will allow him to come home on an IR-3 visa, which means he will become a U.S. Citizen when he lands on U.S. soil.)

One of my sisters, 2 neices and a nephew were snowed in at our house as well, and got to experience our excitement at hearing that James' visa interview was that day! We had been wondering when our visa appointment would be, and why we hadn't heard yet, because we knew of a handful of families who'd gotten I-600 approval the same day or the day before us, who'd been notified of visa appointments on Wednesday 12/19.

We'd just heard on the news that several areas of our city were without power, so I quickly ran to the scanner, plugged in my laptop and got it going while Jock dug out our passports. I got them scanned in within the next few minutes, and sent off. And then, almost as soon as I'd sent them, our electricity started flickering. We never lost power for an extended period of time, but it did go off several times over the next few hours.

Our adoption agency worker noted that this was just another sign of God's hand over our adoption. James was at his appointment righ then, and someone at the orphanage was going to forward the papers on to the embassy as soon as she received them.

...

We haven't heard any more about how James' visa appointment went, or when his visa will be ready. Generally it is two days after the appointment, but we understand that the U.S. Embassy in Port-au-Prince will be closed on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, resuming operations on December 26th.

After James' visa is ready, it will need to be delivered to IBESR to obtain an exit approval letter, which takes 1-2 days. This is something new in the adoption process since the earthquake. IBESR (Haiti's Social Services) has someone stationed at the airport to collect this letter for Haitian children exiting the country with U.S. Citizens, as a safeguard against child trafficking. It is unknown what IBESR's schedule will be over the holidays. Generally the orphanage allows families to make travel plans when the visa is printed, because the travel time and the couple days we will stay for some early bonding with a child before departing Haiti, will allow them plenty of time to get the IBESR letter. However, with the holidays, our agency has told us to plan to travel sometime after the first of the year.

At any rate, we are fortunate that we are so close to the end of this adoption process, and looking forward to traveling to bring James home in early January. I imagine that as soon as our Christmas celebrations are over, our focus will shift to planning and packing for our trip to Haiti -- SO EXCITING!!!

Adoption Update 12/15/2012

We received the following notification from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service Wednesday morning:

USCIS in Port au Prince, Haiti is pleased to inform you that the I-600 petition, which you filed at this office on May 8, 2012 on behalf of James, seeking to qualify him as your immediate relative has been approved. Your case has been transferred to the Adoption Unit of the Consular Section for the visa process. This completes all action by USCIS on the referenced petition. The Consular Section will soon contact you to follow-up on your case.

We know of several other families that received the same approval either Tuesday or Wednesday. And a few of them already have visa appointments for next week. YIKES!!! My thoughts, due to another family ahead of us, is that it'd be a couple weeks before we receive our visa appointment date for a couple weeks out. Maybe not???

We're waiting to hear when our visa appointment will be. We're praying it is no later than the week of January 7th, so we can travel no later than the week of January 14th. We'd like to travel the first half of January. The timing would work out well with family coming to stay with the other kids, and also for us to be back home for Kaylen's birthday on the 21st.

The unknown timing and not being able to plan are just about making me crazy, since I like to have things well-planned-out. I want to know what to expect. I want to have my lists and agenda set. And that's just not possible. So I'm praying for myself to trust in God's timing. Someone suggested on a Facebook group of adoptive moms, to make a list of things you'd like to accomplish, and work on the list when this last step of the process gets to you. I've done that, and I feel like I'm getting a lot done, but still have a lot more to do! Many have also said that this last part of the wait is the hardest. It's definitely true. We didn't make it this far in our previous adoption before the earthquake struck, so I had no idea!

'For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.' (Jeremiah 29:11)

Adoption Update, 12/3/12

James' completed adoption file was submitted to the U.S. Embassy in Port-au-Prince Haiti on 11/26/2012. We're waiting to hear from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS) that we have I-600 approval.

We're still expecting that we'll be traveling to bring James home the first half of January. We're praying for the timing to work out perfectly for the grandparents to come stay with Kaylen, Elijah & Josephine, for us to be home for Kaylen's birthday, and for all the other preparations we have to make.

And for some fun - here are a few photos we have received of James the last few months. September's photos were school-themed.

October's photos were fall-themed. Apparently the kids enjoyed tasting the candy corn that was part of the set. :)

We had also sent James a little package for his birthday, with another adoptive mom who was traveling to visit her son. The description we got with these photos were that James loved pushing the buttons to make sounds for the book we sent. He also studied all the photos in the photo album we sent, and carefully touched the faces in the photos. Oh my tears! Please Lord, help him come home soon!

November's update photos were Christmas-themed, so you'll have to wait to see him on our Christmas card. :)

I just love how Susie does the monthly themes. She and the other staff and volunteers must spend a tremendous amount of time working to get these beautiful photos of each child each month. I so appreciate all the work they do there!

James has a Passport!!!

We were in MOI from 10/3 – 11/7 (only 5 weeks!). That is where they approve his passport application before it gets sent to printing. His passport was printed in two weeks!

This means that are done with the Haitian side of things, and all we have left is U.S. Immigration!

GLA is reviewing James’ paperwork and prepping it for submission to the U.S. Embassy. There are a couple small steps here before James can come home:

• USCIS approval of our I-600 – this is the paperwork we filed in May, which “is used to classify an orphan, who is or will be adopted by a U.S. citizen as an immediate relative of the U.S. citizen to allow the child to enter the United States.”
• Files get sent then to the Consular section, who reviews all documents and schedules James’ visa appointment.
• Visa appointment occurs, after which the visa is usually printed within 2 days.
• Once James’ visa is printed in his passport book, we will make travel plans.

We’re guessing at this point, that we’ll be traveling early- to mid-January, to bring James home!!!

Glory to God!

Adoption Rollercoaster 10/4/2012

The Down Side:
This morning, while walking out of daycare after dropping my kids off, I see a little girl about the same age as James. I see this little girl nearly every day, as her older brother is the about same age as Elijah & Josephine, but for some reason, today I completely lose it. I barely make it back to my car before the tears overflow. I just sit in my car for a few minutes before backing out of my parking space and heading to work, pleading with God that he bring James home quickly. I miss him so much!

As I get back on the road, the local Christian radio station, that God frequently uses to speak to my heart, again plays the right song at the right time. The next song to play is, “Carry Me to the Cross,” by Kutless, followed by, “Before the Morning,” by Josh Wilson.

The tears flow freely as I soak up the lyrics, hearing God speak to me, “I’m not alone … you carry me … you comfort me, lift me up from my knees and carry me,” and “the pain that (I’ve) been feeling can’t compare to the joy that’s coming.” I could go on and on. Every single lyric in both songs was God speaking right to my heart, “I’ve got this.”

Thank you Lord for leading me through the tough days! And Thank you to the musical artists and those at the station selecting the music, for being the instrument of God's reaching out to our community!

The Good News:
So as this emotional roller coaster continues, it's only fitting that we should get an update on our adoption process this afternoon. Our paperwork is now in the Ministry of Interior! This is where they will process and approve James' passport application.

From the short timelines we've heard lately, MOI could take as little as 4-6 weeks, plus 3 days-2 weeks for them to print James' passport. After that it goes to the US side. I-600 approval I have heard from someone recently that it took about a week. Then next is 4 weeks for the visa appointment after which the visa is usually printed the next day and an exit approval letter from IBESR within a couple days.

So... all this to say we could be looking at as short as 10 weeks, or it could be longer. Trying to prepare and hope for the shorter, but keep the realization that those timelines could easily extend to longer.

Thank you all for your prayers on this journey. We can feel them, and God is answering! Please pray with us that our paperwork would be on the short end of these timelines. We'd REALLY love to have James home in December! Pray for our lawyer/processors, orphanage staff, staff in each government office our paperwork passes through, and also for James and us as he'll be joining our family soon!

Adoption Update 9/18/2012

We didn't get an official update from our agency last week, but the adoption status page on GLA's website was updated. It appears that our file had moved from MOJ legal and into MAE legal. We don't know when in the previous 2 weeks that happened, but we're praying to get through MAE legal and into MOI this week. Will you pray that with us?

And regarding MOI and passport printing, here are the timelines for two previous families adopting from GLA who've gone through:

Family T: Entered MOI 7/26, exited MOI 9/4, passport printed 9/17

Family M: Entered MOI 8/22, exited MOI 9/18, passport printed 9/21

Family T has their son's visa already, and are making travel preparations - so exciting!!! However, I can't use their post-passport timeline to guesstimate what ours might look like because they are a Canadian family. I am watching closely to when Family M gets their I-600 approval and visa, as they are a US family and we'll follow the same process as they do. They were told that US visas were averaging a month to process.

It's so encouraging seeing MOI and passport-printing moving so quickly! It gives me hope that James could be home before Christmas, but there are a lot of IFs to get beyond first. I keep thinking in my head, IF we get into MOI by the first week of October, and IF we exit MOI in 4 weeks that puts us at the week of Oct 29, then IF it takes 1 week for printing his passport that puts us at the week of November 5, then IF his visa is ready in a month, we're looking at the first or second week of December, and IF we can make travel plans on short order, he COULD be home before Christmas!

That's a lot of IFs! And, that's taking the shortest timeframe I've heard of recently! We know GOD can accomplish this, but we know HIS will and timing are perfect, so I'm trying to rest in that, instead if getting my heart set on a specific time period.

As far as what works for us, it'd be awesome if he could come home early December. Jock and I would both be able to take time off for the adjustment period. Jock may not be able to hold over the vacation time he's saved up from 2012, into 2013. On the other hand, I think about how overwhelming it could be for a child to join a new family/home during the holidays? We probably wouldn't be able to travel or spend much time with our extended families all together if he came home right before Christmas either.

But whatever comes of our adoption timeline, we'll take.

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who[a] have been called according to his purpose. Romans 8:28.

So, when people ask when we might have James home, I keep saying, we're hoping that he'll be home for Christmas, but it'll be tight. We really don't know for sure, and won't until the time comes. :)

Adoption Udate 9/6/2012

Well, I thought we wouldn't hear anything again until we were in MOI, but since we'd been stuck and I'd inquired about it a few weeks ago, they kindly followed-up with an update when we got un-stuck.

So, we're officially unstuck. :)

Our adoption decree got the necessary stamp from the Parquet Commissioner.

Our dossier is being submitted to the Ministry of Justice (MOJ) for legalization of our adoption documents.

After that, it'll be submitted to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MAE) for another level of legalization of our adoption documents.

MOJ and MAE combined are expected to take 3-4 weeks. Please pray with us that these two steps go smoothly, even faster than 3-4 weeks.

After MOJ and MAE, it can be submitted to the Ministry of Interior (MOI). This means they're applying for James' Haitian passport.

Please pray also that MOI continues to process adoption dossiers quickly. We've heard recent exits that were in the 3-5 week range, which would be awesome!

Adoption (Non-)Update 9/5/12

Well, what we'd hoped regarding the Parquet stamp on our adoption decree wasn't. Monday night, when GLA updated their adoption status page, ours still hadn't moved - we're through Courts and Attestation, but not yet in Legalization. I was VERY bummed to see that. :(

However, I'm encouraged today, hearing that several families that we know adopting from GLA have gotten through Parquet - so that means the new Parquet Commissioner is indeed working on adoption papers. I'm hopeful that our adoption decree might now have its stamp, and has been submitted to the Ministry of Justice (aka MOJ) for legalization (like notarizing). After that will be the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (aka MAE) legalization (again, like notarizing), then Ministry of Interior (aka MOI = Haitian immigration/passport application). Although, we probably won't hear another update until we enter MOI.

Please continue praying with us that we get through MOJ and MAE legalizations quickly and enter MOI.

James - 2 years old!!!

James had his 2nd birthday on August 22nd. The orphanage does one birthday celebration each month, and celebrates all the kids that had birthdays that month together. Their account of him enjoying the party:

James had a great time celebrating his birthday with three other little boys. He spent a little time playing with balloons, and then came over to check out the cake. He got his own piece of cake on a plate, and started working on eating it. He had some help for a little while, and then he fed himself some cake. At one point, he dipped his head down level with the plate so that he could get a mouthful of the fluffy, sweet treat!

And some photos of him from the party:
I'm so thankful that they celebrate with the babies and toddlers, not just the bigger kids. It's awesome to have these photos of his early childhood, even if we can't be the ones to share the moments with him.

As far as the adoption processing goes, I asked for an update on August 17th. We had hoped we would be in MOI a month earlier, as when we exited Parquet, we were told that they expected our files to pass through courts, attestation, and 2 legalization steps in a month total.

Monday, August 20th, we got a response that our file had passed through courts and attestation - which means James has an adoption decree! However, apparently our adoption decree has to have a stamp from Parquet (yes, back to Parquet - we had no idea! - but it must usually be a very quick thing because it's not listed in the steps. The stamp is required before it can got through the 2 legalization steps. The Parquet Commissioner had been out of the office much of the summer (after we passed through the first time), and now there's a new Parquet commissioner. At that time, we were told that GLA did not have confirmation that he'd begun signing out dossiers. GLA's lawyer was hopeful that we'd have the stamp "within the next week or so", and then would submit our dossier for legalization.

We're now praying that, since it's been two weeks since that update, that we did indeed get that stamp from Parquet and that both our legalization steps are complete, and we hear this week that our files have been submitted to the Ministry of Interior. Will you pray this with us this week?

Furthermore, we have heard on a couple adoption groups on Facebook, that one family went into MOI on August 13th, and was out by Sept 1. Another family confirmed that files from their orphanage were being approved through MOI very quickly as well. We're hoping we can get in and out of MOI just as quickly!!! After MOI, they'll print James' passport, then double-check all his documents (for errors or anything needing a re-do) before submitting to the US Embassy. :)

We'd LOVE to have this little guy home in the next 2-3 months, which seems possible if we get into MOI and it moves as quickly as it appears to be currently.

Happy Birthday Jock!

Jock's birthday was Tuesday, but it got a little wrapped up in all the busy-ness with school starting and parent meetings and all. We did still celebrate though. He and I went out for lunch on his birthday, and we also stopped at the Cheesecake Factory to get dessert for after supper. His favorite is the Godiva Chocolate Cheesecake - but we got a few pieces to share between the 5 of us. Mmmmmm!!!

Happy birthday to my most wonderful husband! I Love You!!!

And, since James' birthday is the day after Jock's, it's likely that his future birthday will be a little less of a big deal, but we'll still make it special for him, especially when he hits the next zero here in a few years! :)

Josephine - Kindergarten, Aug 2012

Josephine was probably the most excited of my three to start school, not surprisingly. Kindergarten's a big deal!

At Meet the Teacher night, she got through her tasks like a pro - not wanting help, wanting to put all her supplies where they go very quickly and get on to the next thing, very matter-of-factly. So funny! Then when I asked if I could take a picture of her and her teacher, she got a little nervous, then warmed up fast once she talked to her teacher for a minute. :)

Later that evening, and the next night, while I was finishing her hair, I kept quizzing her on what grade she was in and who her teacher was. Then we'd talk about something else, and I'd come back to the question. It only took a few times for her to get down that she was in kindergarten, but she couldn't remember her teacher's name!

I don't know why, but I worried more about the kids starting kindergarten much more than I did with Kaylen. Maybe I just don't remember 4 years ago! I had visions of Josephine standing in a school hallway, alone and crying, because she was lost. Then when someone came up and asked her who her teacher was, she couldn't tell them. I'm happy to report she had it down after just a couple days of school.

Josephine picked her outfit when we went shopping also. She chose a dress, and then I had to find some leggings for her to wear under it. Later, when we went to the mall to shop for Kaylen's clothes, we found the perfect shoes for her to wear for kindergarten. But unfortunately the store couldn't find the match to the display model - the only one that was her size. She cried and sulked all the way down to the other end of the mall from JCPenney to Younkers, and then was SUPER excited when we found the same pair there, in her size! She's using her backpack that she used for our Disney trip last fall, that has barely been used since then.

Josephine's first highlight from the first day of school was that her teacher had a really big white "TV" that she pulled down from the ceiling. I asked if she shined lights on it and showed some letters, and she said no. She didn't like the school's pizza or chicken gravy over mashed potatoes (although I'm not sure she gave them a chance because she wants to use her lunchbox). When I asked about her special classes (art, music, and library, so far), she seemed to really like music class. She also got to write, sing songs, and has been wearing her eye patch every day, with help from her teacher of when her two hours is up.

So proud of my baby girl - not so much a baby anymore, and so excited to be a big kid in school!

Elijah - Kindergarten, Aug 2012

At Meet the Teacher night, Elijah was so excited to see all the toys in the room! Especially the tub of dinosaurs. I could hardly pry him away from the bin to get a photo of him with his teacher! His teacher seems really nice. She's new to the school, but has several years' experience at another nearby district.

Jock cut Elijah's hair the weekend before school started, so he'd be all ready. We always have to have a new outfit and shoes for the first day of school. Good thing, because Elijah's summer sandals broke the weekend before school started. He chose a cool Batman shirt, and likes the black tennis shoes we found as well. Usually I'll get the kids new backpacks as well, but he was content with his Cars backpack that he took to Disney World last fall, that has rarely been used since.

I can't believe he's in Kindergarten! He's had a good first few days of school so far. I asked him what he did each day, and at first he'd say his standard response from when he'd be at daycare all day: "Play." (Yup, that's it.) Then he corrected himself, and said, "No, we didn't play at all. But... we played outside 3 times." Before school started, he was excited for lunch - that's all I could get out of him. Yup, typical boy, the highlights of the day are recess and lunch.

So proud of my big boy, now a Kindergartner!

Kaylen - Fourth Grade, Aug 2012

Kaylen was so excited to be assigned to her first choice of teacher for 4th grade. I don't think she really knew the other three fourth-grade teachers though. The teacher she got had been a 2nd grade teacher - not her 2nd grade teacher, but her class had been right next door and had done some activities together, so she knew her and really liked her.

She also was super-excited to have one of her best friends from last year in her class again this year. They've seen each other several times over the summer - her friend would try to come to the pool on daycare pool trip days, and they've also done a couple sleep-overs. Her family was out of town when the class list was posted, so I let them know via Facebook. :)

Kaylen was very excited to go to the mall to shop at Justice for back-to-school clothes, as I'd promised. It was an interesting trip, but we both survived, and we did come home with a couple tops instead of an entire outfit and a fancy new bag. She also was able to spend a little of her own money as well. Shoes were even more difficult to find some that fit and we could agree on, but we finally found some tennis shoes - the day before school started!

Kaylen was most excited to see her friends again. Her excitement was evident, although since she's older she had to pretend she wasn't excited for school to be starting. She is excited, however, to be starting the extended learning program (ELP) class for humanities (reading mostly). She's a super reader, and after their first year of standardized testing last winter, they got her signed up for this school year. I think it makes her feel so important! I think she'd do well in math/science too if she applied herself, but math isn't fun to her, so she usually just tries to finish as quickly as possible and doesn't test well with simple errors.

After the first day of school, Kaylen's first comment was that she really liked her teacher, and she's enjoying seeing her friends every day again. She's told a few stories of her friends' summer activities. She was excited to start ELP class. When Elijah told about his first day, she told me that 4th grade only gets one recess. :( She also really took on a nice big-sister helper role for Josephine - helping her get to where she needed to go the first few days.

I'm so proud of how well she's doing in school! How does the time go so quickly?!? In another two years she'll be in middle school!

School's Started!!!

School started last week. With two Kindergartners in the house, the excitement level was pretty high! My Fourth-Grader was not all that excited about school, except that I think she got pretty bored this summer at daycare -- and also she missed her friends.

Meet the Teacher night was a couple days before school started. We packed up the backpacks with school supplies, and headed to the school. You should have seen the jumping up and down that ensued as we went out to the van.

The parking lots, streets, and the inside of the school were packed! Our district just opened a new elementary school, but you wouldn't know it with as large as the class sizes still are. Elijah & Josephine each of 22 kids in their classes -- and there are 5 kindergarten sections. Kaylen has 25 in her class -- one of 4 fourth-grade sections.

We stopped in Kaylen's classroom first. She was excited to have the teacher she was assigned - she was next-door to her room in 2nd grade. The teacher just moved up from 2nd to 4th grade this year. She stuffed all her school supplies and textbooks in her desk, met the teacher, we chatted with another child's parents for a bit, then headed down to the kindergarten area.

Elijah's teacher had a scavenger hunt for him to complete - meeting the teacher, looking around the room for where his supplies needed to go, finding his cubby and coat/bag hook, find his table, turn in parent paperwork, and just explore a bit. We signed up for the email list, filled out a name tag for where he's supposed to go after school, and then headed down the next hallway.

Josephine's teacher had a similar list of things to do - find your cubby and hook, drop off supplies, look around a bit, make a name tag, turn in paperwork, etc.

We then stopped by the nurse's office to talk about Josephine's eye patch routine. Since she has to wear it for 2 hours daily, and it's an eye issue, I assumed it'd be a nurse issue. She seemed pretty indifferent about whether she help Josephine or whether Josephine's teacher helps her with it. I left the bag of patches and note with the nurse, but also went back to her classroom and put the information on the teacher's paper as well, so one way or another, it'll get done.

While we were talking to the nurse, Jock took the older two kids to visit the library. The principal then announced that time was up, and to respect the teachers' time and head home. So on our way out, we stopped in to the art and music rooms, and then the lunch room.

Back home, we had a quick supper before bedtime. The kids had one more full day of daycare before school started. All of the kids were a little hyped after meeting their teachers and seeing their classrooms, and I'm so glad they were excited. I can only hope that enthusiasm remains for many years to come!

More on the first (few) day(s) of school for each kid over the next few days, but here's a quick pic of the kids before we left home that first morning. :)

Kindergarten Hair

It took me a while to decide how to do Josephine's hair for her first day of kindergarten. I think I was a little bit stuck in a rut of hairstyles, but found a photo online, and liked how it's similar to some that I've done before, with a twist - angle-parting starting on one side. The example photo was cornrows, but my fingers tend to get a little tangled on cornrows, and I was concerned about the time factor, so I opted for the same type of parts but with flat twists in the front instead of cornrows. Then hanging two-stranded twists in the back. And she loves the new big giant heart beads I got not too long ago!
Elijah getting his hair done in time for starting kindergarten also:

Happy 6th Birthday, Elijah!

I'm a little late getting this posted, but... Our sweet and silly big boy turned 6 last Saturday!

We sent birthday treats to daycare last Friday. Can you see how this is starting out - it was very much a super-hero birthday!

Saturday we went out for donuts for breakfast. I had Elijah wear his crown from daycare the previous day, and he loved the "Happy Birthday" comments he got when we were there.

Then, at Elijah's request, we went to feed our stale bread to the ducks at a local park, as we have done several times this summer. Elijah LOVES to just watch and study the ducks when we're done feeding them!

It was an overcast day, and not very hot, so we were unsure about our plans for the afternoon, which was to take the kids to the local aquatic center. We weren't sure if they were even going to open because of the temps, but they did, so we decided to brave it. We had fun for a couple hours before the shivers overtook us, and we headed back home to warm up with our cupcakes! ;)

Then Elijah got to open his presents from us. Batman and the Joker were hits, but the favorite was definitely the motorcycle!

Sunday we had plans with some friends, so we waited until tonight to do a little family party. Jock's mom, grandma, brother and 2 boys, aunt and uncle came over for cake and ice cream. Yes, more super-heros, and a yummy ice cream cake from DQ! :)

T-Ball 2012

Elijah & Josephine both played t-ball this summer. It was a little hectic trying to get to two t-ball games and a soccer game most weeks, but we made it to all but one week of their games. The one week we missed was during Josephine & Kaylen's dance recital. Other weeks we were splitting up and trying to juggle kids' game times, but either Jock or I was able to get them to each of their other five games!

Same as when Kaylen played t-ball, it's cute to watch the kids playing in the sand more than paying attention to the game when it's time to field the balls being hit by the other team. Then when they hear a bat hit the ball, they look up and all run after it in a clump, to be the one to pick it up and throw it towards the first base player.

When it's their team's time to hit, they swing just as hard as they can, but miss the ball altogether. The coaches show them how to hold the bat the right way, stand facing the right direction, and look at the ball. With Josephine, it was also a question of whether she should hit right- or left-handed - she still seems ambidextrous to us, so we just let her bat which-ever direction she wanted each time she hit. Most often she would want to hit right-handed, but may have been slightly more coordinated hitting left-handed. After hitting, then they have to be reminded to drop the bat and run to first base. Once the next players hit the ball, they then have to be reminded to move on to 2nd, then third, and when they finally reach home, to actually touch home plate before taking off the over-sized helmet and running back to the dugout. Very cute, indeed!

They both enjoyed the game, and by the end of the season, we got them (however bribed) to stop playing in the sand, and watch for balls coming at them to catch. :)

Then, just the other day in the backyard, Elijah got out the bat and ball, and I pitched it for him. He and Josephine both hit a few balls, which was fun to see, since previously, they'd only hit off the tee.

Here are a few photos from the season...

Dance 2011/2012

Both of the girls took dance classes this year. Kaylen's was tap-ballet-jazz, and Josephine's preschool class was just tap-ballet.

Kaylen didn't really enjoy most of the year of classes, mostly because of another girl in class that picked on her a lot. I think she enjoyed learning the movements and routines, and she REALLY enjoyed recital. She had so much fun, that after recital she was begging to continue next year, even though throughout the year she'd been begging us to quit and we made her stick it out. She was one of the newer girls in her class, so I think that made her nervous, not knowing some things at the beginning so she'd have to work with one of the teen assistants during class sometimes to get things down. She improved so much throughout the year, and got really good!

Josephine seemed to enjoy every class, and had a lot of fun at recital. It's always so cute to see the wide range of abilities, attention spans, memories, etc. in a preschool class. Josephine did really well in both of her dances at recital, but seemed a little rough at rehearsal the night before. I guess that's why they do rehearsals - ha! My videos are from rehearsal, as we weren't allowed to take phtoos/videos at recital - but you'll get the idea.

A few photos from picture day, a month before recital:


Photos/videos from rehearsal:
Josephine's ballet dance:
The song was "Nobody Here But Us Chickies", thus the chicken hats. :)


Kaylen's tap dance (starts in back row, far left)


Kaylen's ballet dance (starts back row, far left):
"Needle" solo (near-splits standing with one foot up and head down by other foot)


Kaylen's jazz dance - her favorite (center back row).
She had a leap solo here and did an awesome job!


Josephine's tap dance: