One Year Anniversary - Abigail and Jen!

What a difference a year makes! One year ago Princess A was literally drug to us by an orphanage nanny on each arm. The video would be too painful to watch. She wouldn't let me touch her for an entire week. Princess J was invisible. I don't believe she had anyone (except for her friend Bobby) who was even aware of her presence. I'm humbled and honored to be a part of their lives.  And the Prince? Wow! What an unexpected bonus!  I'm a very blessed woman!

Official adoption day, April 23, 2013

Easter Sunday, April 20, 2014

Sneak peek at Easter Sunday

It has been a fun filled day of activities with children and grandchildren, and this Mama is T-I-R-E-D.  I just had to share a few photos as a sneak peak though....

 

I'll write more about our activities after I catch some sleep, but for now, Happy Easter!

Science Experiments aka Colored Rice and Tactile Fun

Monday was rainy and cool, and not so fun to be outside, so we decided to try coloring rice. For the older kids this was a science experiment, but for the young princesses, it was just fun!

We put a tablespoon of rubbing alcohol, a small bottle of food coloring, and about 7 cups of rice in a gallon sized pitcher. Then we stirred and shook it until the white rice was colored. 

 After we'd each had a turn in mixing a color of choice, we ended up with two one-quart containers of each of five colors.

 Children who are raised in institutions are often lacking in sensory skills.  Jen especially craves textures and likes to feel everything.

 The rice was a little too large to go through the sand wheels as we had hoped it would do. That was ok though. The Little Princesses were happy with cups, funnels and spoons.

 

 

So on your next rainy day, give coloring rice a try.  It is super easy, super cheap, and super fun!

Neighborhood Egg Hunt

Sunday was another beautiful day (I'm going back a day in case the tub covered flowers in the last post have you confused!) and one of the neighbors organized an egg hunt for all of the children in the neighborhood.  Here we are on our way to the festivities.  Our Prince loves this particular walk.  There is an incline going, but on the way home he gets to zoom down!  There is a slight daredevil personality at work there! 

 The kids were treated to LOTS of candy and plastic eggs in the yard.

The somewhat wet ground made for hard going with Isaac's chair, and I had to help him get unstuck at times.  I know he doesn't like to have to have help, but he never complains. (not out loud anyway)

Some games followed the candy hunt.   In one of them they partnered up and tossed raw eggs. Jen and Agibail were partners, and it wasn't long before Abigail had an egg broken on her shoe! Isaac and Tikvah did VERY well! Their egg finally broke when it hit Tikvah's hand as she caught it from a long distance. 

This was the Littlest Princess' take on the festivities:

When we returned home, the sorting began!

 

Note the girls all took cover from the sun, as we were all pretty warm at this point.  But the Prince, not being used to Ohio yet, chose to sit in the sun, still in his hoodie.  Whew.

 

I'm pretty sure he would NOT have liked the winter we just experienced!  Here's hoping for a mild one next time!

 

Spring?? Planting

 Our ramp was finished the second week we were in China.  They did a fantastic job on it!  All of our landscaping had to come out in this area when the ramp was built, so this was a nice chance to start over.  

We took advantage of the sunny day on Saturday to work in front of the house.  Ethan amended our soil - it was heavy clay - so the plants should be happy here.

 I planted hostas (if you know me, you know hostas make me HAPPY) and yellow violas. Can't wait to see them grow and spread! 

The girls helped me plant, and Isaac poured mulch and watered everything when we were finished. Great team work!

What better way to reward a hard working team than a trip to Graeter's for a treat?  I admit, since moving to Cincinnati I have become somewhat of an ice cream snob...

 

 

Sadly, I have to add a postscript... on Monday night Ohio got cold weather AGAIN and snow was forecast for our area.  Our landscape looked a little different when we went to bed last night.

Yes!  There really was snow on the ground when we got up this morning, but the rest of the week is supposed to bring us the 50's and 60's.  We're hoping that spring actually STICKS this time around!

A Boy and His Basketball...

We've been blessed with some lovely, spring weather the past few days, so we've been outside enjoying it!  On Friday we decided it was time to find our boy a place to shoot some hoops.  Since our driveway is too steep for a basketball hoop, we went to check out the local parks.  

We discovered one just a few miles from our home.

The playground was fenced off as they were doing some construction on it, so the girls went to the court to cheer on Isaac.

Or......not.  Tikvah discovered it was also a good day to read in the great outdoors.

Isaac seemed happy to get his hands on a basketball again.

 And I'm telling you, the Prince is GOOD!  He made a large percentage of the shots!