Family game time

Game nights have always been a huge part of our evenings since Aidan was little.

Thankfully the girls have begun to enjoy playing games.

They aren't quite ready for a Monopoly marathon with the family but, a little Hi Ho Cherry -O and they are happy!

Besides it is great to work on their fine motor skills along with counting!

Looking forward to many more game nights with these two...

Painting Valentines

Jason and Aidan headed out early this morning to drive to Bentonville, AR to pick up Jason's mother who is in the country for a couple months and will be staying with us for a couple weeks.

As the girls are almost over their colds I thought we would stay in and not venture out.  We opted for a little Valentine painting before a much needed bath time.  Not sure if there was more paint on the girls or the Valentines.  Either way it was lots of fun watching them be creative.

Dariya decided to paint a little then had the classic idea to paint her hands and use them for blotting on the Valentine.  I think she misunderstood my lesson on self portraits.

While Alayna went Goya's Black paintings route... hmmm I think I should be worried.  

I seriously tried to talk her out of using black but she insisted. 

She came around and eventually added some red and blue.   

Those are classic Valentine colors right?

A bubble bath to take away the residual paint and we were back in business.

A fun Saturday morning was had by all....

Cough, sniffle, cough, cough

We had been so fortunate that none of us had been sick this school year.  Not a cold, flu or the yukky virus' that have been making their rounds in all the schools.

When your mom is bald she has loads of fun hats to try on!!!

Last weekend Alayna started running a low grade fever, was lethargic and had a cough.  She couldn't sleep well for all the stuffiness that comes with having a cold.  Thankfully the kids were off school on Monday for MLK day to give her an extra day to pass off her germs onto Dariya get better.  Both girls attended school on Wednesday and although they weren't running fevers they just weren't themselves.  Alayna was so worn out she napped all afternoon then went back to bed at 6:30 and slept all night.

Today is the first day that Alayna asked to play and she was happy all morning.  She isn't as stuffed up anymore so is sleeping better at night.

Now big sister is a stopped up mess.  Bless Dariya's heart she has no fever but just the stuffy nose and cough of a cold.  She is so stopped up I can hardly understand her when she talks.

Hoping the cold stops with the two of them and that they both bounce back quickly.  Off to Lysol the house as my mother in law is coming Saturday from England for 2 weeks, sure don't want to greet her and hand off their colds.

Update on Dariya:  We have a final confirmation on Dariya being able to stay in preK next year.  Thank you for all the prayers for the conference last week and her team.  We are very pleased that she will be able to remain with her team for one more year allowing her to be better prepared for kindergarten in 2014.

Great conference

We are thankful for all the prayers that were sent our way today.  Dariya's conference went awesome.  We talked about all the options for placement and the positive and negatives to each.

We haven't finalized the decision about placement for next year with an IEP yet.  But, there was definite consensus from the whole team that she would benefit from another year in the early childhood setting.  Since it isn't a typical thing to retain in preschool the powers that be have to discuss the placement and will get back with us.

We are blessed with a great team, who really went to bat for Dariya and are thankful that they are interested in seeking what is best for her, taking into account her 3 1/2 years of institutionalism.

Now if I can only get through a conference using the word institutionalism without crying that would be helpful.  Oh my, I had no idea how much just talking about Dariya's life before our family would bring back so many raw emotions for me.

I do so love that blue eyed girl!

Oh those eyes...

I could get lost in those beautiful deep blue eyes of hers.  

She is absolutely wonderful and I love her!

To the ends of the Earth I would go to protect her.

Prayers appreciated today as we meet with her school team to discuss the best placement 

for her for next year.

As she will be 5 in a few weeks they want to send her to kindergarten but, 

we are asking for her to go to Pre K instead so that she may catch up on some of the skills she missed out on with her 3 1/2 years of institutionalism.

It starts with A

She did it!

Today the girls and I were playing and coloring at their easel and Alayna wrote the letter "A" all by herself.  We have been working on this and they have been working with her at school on this too.  She has had the concept for a while and could say, "down, down, across" which is what I prompt her with to form this letter. But, until today I had never seen her complete one one her own.

She has known how to verbally spell her name for quite a long time.

I was so excited I jumped up and hugged her and told her how proud I was of her.  She then told me that she learned the word proud off of a Sesame Street podcast!

Smart little cookie!  Go Alayna go!

Ringing in the new year sledding style

As we have had more snow in one or two snowfalls than we had all winter last year we thought we should get the girls out to play in it.  We didn't stay up until midnight to ring in the new year so we were all up early on New Years day so we bundled up and headed out front for some fun.  

Dariya, we are sure had never been allowed out of the orphanage during the winter months so while they had plenty of snow in Ukraine I am sure she never played in it.

We weren't sure what she would think but, it didn't take too long to figure out she is a winter sport kinda girl!

She loved sledding in the front yard, making snow angels, tasting it (good thing the dogs live in the backyard LOL), and playing, playing, playing. 

Alayna was the first to give up as her hands got too cold and eventually the other two came in and joined her near the heater.

What a great way to bring in the New Year.  

I do so love these three...

Love the smiles!