In TWO days!!!

Our Baby is reading!!! After two days of Kindergarten she has decided she wants to read. Now, as her parents we have known she was capable of this task months ago but she was not 'interested' in it. She loves books and always has enjoyed looking at them and being read to, especially by Big Sister. Tonight though she decided since she didn't have any homework she would "try and read a book" (her words). I guess being a Kindergartner now she feels the need to have some homework. I said go for it-and handed her a box of books I thought she might want to start with. Much like her decision to swim, she set her mind to it, believed in herself and DID IT! Three Bob Books later the whole family was yelling, high fives being passed out, and cheering her on. She called and read to the grandparents-the grandmas both giggled, I think they did that so they wouldn't cry. We are a family of avid readers and now we have one more. I am one EXCITED mommy! Princess went to bed beaming tonight, I bet she will be sleeping with a smile on her face. Wonder what else our big kid will be doing with another 2 days of school under her belt.

Princess's first day of Kindergarten!

OUR BABY IS IN SCHOOL 5 DAYS A WEEK!

She loves school and was so happy to FINALLY be a Kindie like Big Sister and Brother. The Lead Teacher has literally watched Madison grow up since we have had a child attending Gingerbread for 6 years-I am not sure who was more excited this morning. She affectionally greeted Madison by calling her the nickname Big Sister has called her-MaMa. Princess started her morning off at school playing with a microscope hooked up to a computer-investigating a fly, flower and some strange little bug. When I picked her up she came beaming to the car so proud to be a "Big Kid" and told me all about her day. I can not believe I do not have a 'baby' at home with me anymore. For over nine years I have had a child in tow-I think I will enjoy this week of 'freedom' but by next week I am sure I will feel a bit lost.

First Day of School

Despite the thunder and rain the kids were excited about school. Backpacks were over flowing with school supplies and snacks, lunches were packed and the before school pictures were taken in a break from the rain. Everyone even got to their class on time :-) As you can see from the pics, Big Sister took off on her own as a 4th grader. Kade would have if Mom would have let him ;-) and Jennifer is still a bit less than thrilled that she doesn't have the same teacher as last year. I am hoping she will realize today what a fun and wonderful teacher she has. Now the Princess and I are off to spend the day together with out the 'big kids' because her school doesn't start until Monday. It will be a quiet day......that is until the school bell rings.

Birthday Celebration

Here is the "Fancy Cake" with the 'make up' that J and her Oma made. We had a family celebration tonight for her and my niece Hannah, who's birthday is the day after J's. Hannah and my sister made a "Pony Cake" with a big purple candle 5 in the middle. Unfortunately, Hannah was a bit under the weather and didn't feel much to eating cake. So the wonderful Aunt that I am ;-) I told her to take her cake home and eat it when she felt better. I didn't think it was fair for us to eat it in front of her. So we all shared the make up cake and it was quite yummy. The girls did a great job of sharing the spotlight, which is a norm for family parties in our family with so many birthdays close together. This was J's second birthday celebration, this past Thursday we surprised her with a party at Chuck E Cheese (pictures to come) with two other families. It was the perfect size party and on an 'off' night so the restaurant was not crowded. She enjoyed wearing the birthday crown, dancing with Chuck E Cheese and eating her favorite food-Pizza. Tonight when I tucked her in, I told her we would no longer have a six year old in our house, in the morning she would be 7. Big Sister stated very matter of fact "Mom, just wait till January and Ma will turn 6" Oh geez! I am glad they are growing up but..........I miss the 'little ones'.

Another word confusion

I think with all the changes (stress) that J is experiencing her English kind of goes out the window at times. Sometimes it is in the understanding of words, other times it is trying to find the words to express her thoughts, and sometimes it is using the wrong word-which seems to be the most entertaining to all. She catches herself occasionally right after she has used the wrong word and giggles and says "That's not right." A sibling or parent fills in the sentence with one or two words that she can choose from. I have been amazed at all our kids vocabulary and the words they use to describe the same thing. Today at lunch, J was telling the Princess and I all about her time with Oma (Tony's mom) and the cake they baked for her birthday. She got to go to the store and choose the kind of cake she wanted to make, the icing and the decorations. She said they baked it and were waiting for it to 'get cold' so she could "put the make up on it". Princess responds in a giggle "You are putting make up on your cake!?!?" J says "Yes.....pink pink make up" Princess says "I think you mean icing" The girls giggled for a long time about that word mix up and I am sure they will share that story many more times. I am looking forward to eating the make up cake with a crown on it, pictures to come.

(Sorry the last few pictures have been so huge-can't figure out why-I am checking the smaller image box, but as you see they are not small)

Jalapeno or Palomino

This afternoon Daddy and the two oldest headed to Roaring River, our favorite place to go camping. They will spend all day tomorrow trout fishing. At the last minute, Tony's dad decided to go. Kade quickly pointed out that Big Sister would be the only girl, she smiled proudly and said 'Yep, I know.........I will be spoiled' Too funny that girl is. I know they will have a great time fishing and enjoy their time away from home and in the great outdoors. This also means I have the little two at home, whom feel a bit left out. So I told them we could go out for dinner and on a little shopping trip. We choose a mexican restaurant (such a surprise) and sat outside on the patio among the misters. We enjoyed a fun game of 'I Spy' while waiting on the food and devouring the chips, tortillas, queso and salsa. When our food arrived I asked J if she wanted to pour some salsa (which she eats by the spoonfuls) on her rice and she said no but that she would take the green things off my plate. She said she ate them all the time in Ghana and they are yummy. She was referring to the jalapenos on my plate.

I said "Are you sure you want these? They are spicy" Confidently she said yes and took several off my plate and mixed them into her rice. I leaned over to Ma and said "Watch her face, I do not think she is going to like them" J took a big bite of rice with a jalepeno on top and chewed once or twice before the look of shock was on her face. Ma started laughing so hard, which made J giggle. I encouraged her to swallow quickly and get a drink. The two girls laughed and laughed as J tried to get the taste off her tongue, trying many antics. Then Ma says "J I can't believe you ate a Palomino!!"and bursts out laughing. What Mom doesn't giggle when her children are enjoying a good belly role of laughter, but add a misuse of words stated so confidently......well let's just say the three of us were in tears from laughing so hard. Good thing we were already outside or we might have been kicked out. When I finally stopped laughing long enough to explain the difference between a horse and a pepper the girls laughed even harder. We headed for a 'shopping spree' at the Dollar Tree. They now have an overflowing drawer of hair accessories and a little bag to carry their goodies in. We are finishing off the evening snuggled together watching a 'girlie' movie.

Too much change

Well there have been a lot of changes-change in routine (summer time), changes that come with vacation, changes that are being anticipated with a new school year quickly approaching, etc. All of these changes seem to throw a particular little girl into chaos. For those of you who read this blog that have adopted older children you know what I am talking about, others of you might think I am crazy.....(well I think I a bit at times).......however I do know change can create some change in behavior. And "some change" in behavior would be an understatement in our house the last two weeks. We (parents) are trying incredibly hard to be patient and understanding, providing the most stable, loving, reassuring environment as possible. We have also tried some 'new' parenting techniques-not sure if they are working, I would like to think so but I guess only time will tell. I will share a bit of what we are doing, although it does make me seem a bit vulnerable to me, a little 'too much information' for me. I am pretty much an open book about myself, but when talking about the lives/behaviors of my children the door often stays sealed shut. However, I know how much hope, encouragement, and feelings of normalcy I gain from reading other adoption blogs, so hopefully someone might benefit. I also want to state-all of our children misbehave, they are children, and just like me act undesirably at times-I am just used to parenting them and have figured out what 'works' with/for them. We are still trying to figure out what works for J, what will deter her undesirable behaviors and attitudes. So that is whom I am writing about.

We have been using 'time in' in stead of time out. When J has done something that usually would have resulted in a 'time out' in our house she receives a 'time in'. Explanation-she sits or stands next to one of us. For example, she chooses to take an object out of the hand of her siblings or something they are playing with, she has to return it and sit with one of us. Let's just say that a few mornings this week I have fixed breakfast, cleaned the kitchen or folded laundry with a child at my feet or sitting where I can feel her breathe on me. This 'time in' is not spent or seen as 'special time' with mommy. She knows that I am not happy with her choice, nor the fact that I have an appendage, and quite frankly I think she is not too happy about being my shadow. So I hope that this new way of discipline is working, if not I am losing my personal space for nothing, which that idea does not make me too thrilled. Slowly I think it is deterring some unwanted behavior. I keep reminding myself-CONSISTENCY, CONSISTENCY, CONSISTENCY.

Something else we are trying, allowing J the opportunity to name and claim her behavior. Example-kids playing in the playroom, I hear J speaking unkindly to her siblings. I ask for her to come to me and then ask her why she thinks I have called her away from playing. When I first started this the answer I got 95% of the time was "Because I was not nice" I have asked her to go a bit deeper and explain how she was not nice. That part is working, she now is getting pretty specific with what she has done/said. I think sometimes she amazes herself in how she has chosen to behave. An added benefit is that she is able to see how her behavior is affecting her siblings this way, I think. I have also allowed her to be a part of the discipline decision, when a 'time in' just doesn't seem to fit the behavior (like when we have already done that 2, 3, 4 times for the bad choice of behavior) she has to help come up with what might be a deterrent for her. Sometimes she is a bit tougher on herself, but it seems to be working.

There are times I truly feel that I am not 'good enough' for my job. One thing that I do not ever doubt though is God's plan.......question yes, doubt no. I know that God chose us to be J's parents, I know that He has lead us down the path of adoption, I know that He feels that we are capable of being the best parents to all four of our children........I do question if I am doing it right, I do question the strength He thinks I must have, I do question how much to share with others-how much to seek help for, how much to share with teachers, how much to let others 'in', etc.

Habitat for Humanity:Playhouse

Our church is taking part in an Apostle's Build, where churches are coming together to build a house for a family here in town. To help raise funds for the house, a playhouse was built and raffle tickets were sold ($5 for one or $20 for 5). The playhouse has been on display at the mall and people have been 'manning' a table to sell tickets on the weekends. Habitat for Humanity is a wonderful organization, but unfortunately has rules about children not being on the worksite while the construction is taking place(safety). The Waggoner kids have a tough time grasping that rule since they have been helping build houses in Mexico since before they could walk. Anyway, I thought they might like being able to be apart of the build by raising money. So we headed to the mall to take part in selling raffle tickets.

The kids started off a bit shy, but soon found their nice loud voices (the ones they use all the time at home) along with a bit of courage. They would smile and say "Would you like to help Habitat for Humanity?" The whole phrase was a bit foreign to Jennifer, but after saying it a 20-30 times I think she figured it out. I wish I had taken my camera or video camera would have been even better. They were precious and the faces on the 'strangers' were pretty priceless. Unfortunately, they were ignored by some and others promised they would be back-little Princess kept looking for those who had said they would be back. She eventually said "I think people lied to us and they are not coming back" What a tough lesson to learn so young......so if by chance any of you who promised to come back are reading this-you owe our little girl an explanation, a truthful one!

The kids sold several tickets (we stopped counting at 25) and received a lot of donations. They won the hearts of many, I think. There was a woman who was working at the jewelry store, by where we were, who came out with money and said she had been watching Kade. She said he was so much fun to watch-so confident and had a sweet smile-she just had to donate again in 'honor' of his hard work. Of course this made him work even harder. He was quite the salesman who would even walk a little with you if you tried to pass him by. He would boldly repeat himself and it worked several times-ending in a raffle ticket(s) purchase or donation.

I loved the fact the kids worked so hard, stepped out of their comfort zone, all in order to raise funds for a family to have a home of their own. I also loved their expectation of others to care and donate. I was a bit sad that they also learned that some just didn't care/were too busy to stop and others chose to lie to them.

All in all a fun way to spend a few hours on a hot Saturday and a great lesson in service.