Vanya turns 6!

We my baby is now 6 years old. It really made me reflect on how time flies. It is so hard to believe that the boys have now been home for almost 3 years now. For Vanya, that means in July he will have been here longer than in Ukraine. Amazing!
From a meager beginning of 5 1/2 pounds, 18 1/2 inches long at birth to his 26lbs, 2' 11" at 3yrs old, my little man now stands tall at 42 1/2 inches, 39.5 lbs and still thinks he owns the world!
He had done a countdown to his birthday for the last week and the day finally arrived! Of course he woke up at the crack of dawn and wanted to announce that today was his birthday. Mama didn't mind though because he came into our room and in a loud whisper voice said,"Mama, did you know it is my birthday today? Can I come snuggle with you?" (thus ensuring that mama wouldn't send him back bed as it was still dark outside) So he climbed in bed and wiggled himself right up to me with a big grin asked,"What time will it be when I open presents? I wish if it were that time right now but I know we need to snuggle a little more till its light out, right mama? You're so beautiful." Yep he is a charmer. I remember when he was first home and would come in in the middle of the night and climb in bed with us and go right back to sleep. He would put his head right under my chin and curl up so that not even his feet would reach my lap! Well he still fits pretty well but has some long lanky legs now and talks from the minute he wakes up till after I close the door to his room at night. Babushka and he get along very nicely that way!

It was present opening, picture taking (with the funny glasses of course) and pancakes and off to school. His kindergarten teacher is just great and allowed us to have his party at recess which she helped me with. We had a beach ball race and jump rope fun before we went in for cake and ice cream. I have gotten smart over the years and got the individual cups of ice cream and individually packed drinks to make it easier as well as the disposable table cloth that can just be picked up off the tables and thrown away. No fuss no mess. He wanted a superman/batman cake but mama evidently didn't hear right and got a spiderman cake with a batman candle. He was just as happy with that and didn't complain at all. He was just happy to be the birthday boy. I stayed to have lunch with him (brought him chic fil a, his favorite) and his class in the cafeteria. I will have to make sure to say nice things to those lunch ladies. Boy, what a job! You couldn't pay me enough to be in charge of a cafeteria full of kindergartners. Aggghhh!
He asked if he could come home with me when I was leaving and since his teacher said they only had choice time and one other thing left I said OK. He really just wanted some alone time with mama to jump on the trampoline, eat a popsicle in the tree fort, and be pulled on his new skateboard. I think I enjoyed it as much as he did! We both miss that time we used to have when he was in preschool and would get home about 2 hours before the other boys.
Once brothers got home we all packed up and went to the park (the big slide as they call it) for some play time while we waited for papa to get home. Our daughter Mayra had come over that morning to give Vanya his present and was coming over that evening to watch Yuri and Veecha while we took Vanya out for his special birthday dinner. She had her wisdom teeth pulled on Monday so even though she has been a little sore and such it has been really nice to have her around almost daily this week. She is such a blessing to us too and we are going to miss her very much when she moves to DC soon.

Vanya want to go to Great Wolf Lodge for his birthday dinner so he could eat and then play at the arcade there. There is a new restaurant there called Jungle Jim's and while some of the food is not so great, the atmosphere is really cool. It has a big round floor to ceiling fish tank and all the kids meals come with a treasure they can pick from a big treasure box at the door. Outside you can put your face in one of those cut out things (he was a little too short but got on his tiptoes). He was so tired and didn't eat that much but had a great time at the arcade afterwards. He really enjoyed being able to lead mama and papa around and pick his favorite things to do.
When we ran out of coins we went upstairs to leave and got there just in time for a little show they do in the lobby. He sat on mamas lap on the floor and cuddled up and watched quietly.
We put his superhero movie on in the car on the way home thinking he would fall asleep but no such luck. After getting him home and in bed he wanted me to lay down in his bed with him while he fell asleep. Usually I don't get all the way in the bed and lay down. I sit by the bed (which is on the floor) and just rub their head or cheek but he wanted the full snuggle for his birthday. I'm glad I did because what came out of his mouth shortly after that brought tears to my eyes. He said with his tired little raspy voice," Mama, thanks for giving me a life with a papa and mama and grandparents and brothers. I love my brothers and all my family. Good night mama, thank you for my birthday." Wow! Such a profound thought for such a little boy. I didn't even think he thought about things like that. Shows how much I know!

A very blessed mama mama mama

ps I will have to add the pictures later after I figure out how to download from my new camera.

Long time no blog (long entry)

Wow! I can't believe it has been so long since I updated this blog. So much has happened since that missions trip last August. So I will attempt to hit the highlights and hopefully not take so long in updating the next time.





VANYA
We debated back and forth as to whether or not to send Vanya to kindergarten this year or give him a little more time to mature a bit. Well Papa decided that it was time to cut the apron strings and send him on so much to mamas chagrin my little man started kindergarten. He is very bright but his enthusiasm for fun overwhelms him and so he has earned his very own behaviour chart for each day. At first he had to earn 8 smiley faces out of 11 to be able to play with his best friend in the neighborhood, Emma. He didn't seem to mind not getting ANY smiley faces at first but once he found out how boring it was not being able to go out and play he started to try a little harder. We think he has finally caught on (6 months later) and has now had over a week of almost ALL smiley faces daily. He is reading well and can sounds out words wonderfully. The attention span and attention to detail will have to wait as he can only keep it together but for so long. At the beginning of the year he would just melt down when he got home over simply being asked to put his shoes away (which he does every time he comes in the house) but he now has the ability to hold on a little while after getting home and then by meltdown time he can go outside and play. He played soccer for the first time this fall and really wasn't at all interested in being where the ball was or getting in the action but enjoyed playing around with all the kids. We're gearing up for tball now and hope the interest level will be a bit more this year. He sure does have a good throw!


VICTOR
Victor started school out very strong and mama was impressed with his reading and enjoyed listening to try to figure out words. Perseverance has not been his strong suit up to now. He still had some serious melt downs when he couldn't figure something out or if he just didn't "get it". He played soccer in the fall and did a good job paying attention and really enjoyed being the goalie. I think because there was less running involved. We had intended to sign him up for wrestling in the winter but the wrestling league evidently didn't get off the ground this year. Boy, he would be great at that. He is such a bull dog and can really hold his own when he wrestles with Yuri or papa. Strong boy! Hopefully next year we can get him involved. He needs something of his own to be good at. As the typical middle child, he often times gets overlooked or lumped in with the younger or older brother. I do have to say that he is by far my most obedient son and always has his things picked up and does what he is asked right away. He still gets his feelings hurt easily but is learning how to be better about that. The wii games are a real attraction for him and his hand eye coordination has greatly improved. Never thought I would enjoy letting him play video games alot. He also excels at his jump start computer game and has surpassed both his brothers. Strange thing is that he can learn all on his own better than with help. If I intervene and try to help him figure something out he acts as if he has no sense what so ever and can't even answer simple questions that I know he knows. He doesn't do this on purpose, I think it just throws off his concentration when he can't just get into his own little box by himself. He has struggled a little bit lately as the bar has been raised in reading and the other subjects. New things take him a while to get but once he gets it then he is off to the races. He is a joy to talk with one on one and has recently been baptized. We are still working on being able to help little brother without being condescending or mean but he has come a long way from trying to give him away at the mall! His smile continues to light up a room and his confidence is booming. Hooray!

YURI
Ahhh, my leader. Yuri is a very bright young man and has really matured alot this year. He is learning how to fit in with other kids and isn't quite as shy as he has been in the past making friends. His school work is going OK, still excelling at math and science but struggling in reading and spelling. His speech has not improved very much so it is hard for him to sound words out and spell them right when he can't pronounce them correctly. Still makes me mad that the school won't provide speech help for him. I'm having him retested this spring. Yuri really excelled at soccer this fall and we played him by age instead of grade after finding out he would have been on the same team with Victor and was by far bigger than all of the other kids. Once we moved him up to his age he really thrived and did a wonderful job of being a team player and passing. He is a great defender but also loved to have the thrill of scoring. Very competitive. He then played basketball for the first time this winter and enjoyed it but probably wouldn't choose to do that again. The boys on his team had all played several seasons and had a hard time passing to him because he was just learning and most often couldn't get the ball where it needed to go. Live and learn. He just had his try outs for baseball and is excited to be playing kid pitch this year. He has a good sense for where he should be and has a strong bat. Papa has fun playing catch with all of them and they can now all catch a fast ball and get it back to Papa in record time. Should be a good season. Yuri's favorite time is when mama can lay down with him at night and scratch his back. I'm so glad for that and wish I could do it more often. He really likes to talk at night and tell me all the things he thinks about. He is still figuring out how to choose friends that don't get you in trouble and how to not go along with the crowd if they are doing something wrong but he is making good progress. He is very proud when he does well on his spelling tests and is starting to be able to write and edit his own stories. He also became well aware of the difference in age of his class mates as compared to himself. If it were up to him, he would like to be in 4th grade next year instead of third but the thought of extra work to make that happen was not at all appealing to him so 3rd grade it will be. He is getting a bit more calm but we are still working on trying to help him not be so easily offended or angered by his little brothers. That high pitched squeal he has is enough to burst an eardrum (Veeeeeeeeecha! Vaaaaannnnnya!). He is still my best organizer and has strategically placed all of the containers they have hijacked from the trash into their new kitchen (Xmas present from Uncle Brian) where they could no longer be seen by the naked eye or by papa who wanted to throw them all away. Gasp!

TRAVIS
This is Travis' final year at Liberty University. When he graduates he will be commissioned into the army and will serve in the Virginia National Guard in Winchester, VA. He has expressed and interest in being a police officer. Not so sure I like the idea of him being a police officer but when he sets his mind to something I know he will accomplish great things. I would just worry about that middle of the night phone call saying something happened to him. Guess I'll just have to pray that God will protect him and watch over him which I know He does anyway. His unit is scheduled to be deployed to Afghanistan in Spring 2011 which I'm not looking forward to either as my knees are going to be worn out with all the prayer that that will require. Totally worth it though. Recently when he came home for a visit and was in his ROTC uniform it reminded me of how fast time flies. I remember him as a little boy and now he is all grown up and looks so strong now. Looking forward to what God has in store for him.

MAYRA
As always, Mayra continues to be a blessing. She comes over periodically and spoils her brothers and mama always enjoys some "girl" time. She has gotten a wonderful opportunity to go to DC with her company and possibly work with the Mexican embassy(which she has always been interested in). Many doors have opened for her and she has made such great decisions. We are very proud of her. Although she and her boyfriend are no longer together it was a hidden blessing in that she is now free to move to this new position unencumbered and ready to tackle the world. She went to see her mother in Mexico after Christmas and got to see her nephew and grandparents and such. Her mother just graduated from college also and Mayra got to be there to cheer her on.I know that was a special time for all of them. She will be moving to Washington in the next few months and we will all miss her very much. Victor was ready to move with her!

CRYSTAL
Crystal got married last June and is now expecting her first son in May. We think he will be early though as all signs point that way. What a weird feeling being ready to be a grandparent and still having a 5 year old at home! Agh! She was working as a nanny and her husband, Max, is a manager selling Verizon services. They still live in Northern Virginia so they aren't too far away to visit. Mama has gone on a bit of a baby spree and has outfitted Cameron Wyatt fairly well so far. Boy I love all the baby stuff. They have much cuter clothes for boys now a days. Papa will be fixing our rocker and making it ready for the new parents to rock our little bundle to sleep. Prayer continue for mother and baby. We hope to keep him inside for at least another few weeks. We have his sonogram on the frig already. This grandparent thing might be pretty cool!

MAMA and PAPA
Well, what can we say! We have never been this tired, this busy, or this blessed in our whole lives. Papa would like to find a new job but is hanging in there with the one he has and making sure he is providing for us all. He has a little more patience with the boys as they are now a little older and little more able to do things with him. Mama continues to try to keep up with everyone and do a little ministry too. Another adoptive parent and I have started a resource center to help those interested in adopting from Ukraine. We are hoping it will be a fruitful venture. Lots of prayer needed for that one. The orphan ministry at the church is going well but the time is coming when the torch will need to be passed along. There is another missions trip planned but alas I will not be leading it or going. :( I will miss seeing all the kids but will still be involved in setting everything up and following the journey.
God continues to open and close doors in our lives and I am excited to see what's next for the Passanita Nut House.

OK, now all of you who have been hounding me about updating my blog can be happy knowing it has been done!

mama mama mama

Made it to Ukraine

Well we finally made it to Zaporyzhzhia. Leading a team of 14 is soooo different than going with your own family and a couple of others. I'm finding my leadership skills may need to be honed. We only lost one bag that has now been found and the whole team was just on the spot with everything being asked of them. They have been real troopers.
The children got back form camp today nad we got to greet them. We saw many of the friends we made last year and have made a few new ones. The director made us all very welcome and even made tea for the whole group! She had a smile on her face and was open to all the plans we have. The group got a tour while I was meeting with the director. They probably got to see more than I ever have! They said it was a great tour and htey got to see lots of things.
My phone finally started working and it was a pleasant surpirse to get a call from my husband on our interpretors phone before mine was working. He does a good job of making me feel important and I got to talk to the boys and hear their voices. That was nice too. Didn't have a chance to get organized so I didn't take any pictures yet to load.
Now I will have to go justify all the money and keep track of everyone's whereabout for tomorrow.
The church we partner with (Christ if the only Hope) had lunch for us today that was awesome. It was chicken noodle soup and then the second coarse was mashed potatoes and breaded chicken. We were stuffed!
That's the update for now.

Beaches, Baseball and Birthdays

Alright already! I never knew how many people actually waited to read this blog until I didn't post anything for a while. I really started it to keep a record for myself of what our family has been up to so I wouldn't forget. Things get so busy around here I hardly have time to think, much less record the goings on. Sooooo for all those waiting on an update here it is!

Beaches - We are very fortunate that Babushka lives in a great place to visit, Florida! Rob and I took the boys down to see babushka over spring break and Laura took them again after school let out in June. She lives right on the beach and has a pool with a hot tub too. Of course in this lovely paradise are also lots of "wise" "young at heart" individuals who don't believe children should jump into the pool or have floats or toys or food or have anything else remotely fun in that area. Oftentimes we spent lots of time out on the beach part where there weren't quite so many rules. Even though the boys are getting much better about their behavior, they are still kids and all kids make noise and splash and jump and want to play with toys. We found that we did a pretty good job of trying to appease our "wiser" friends and also found the others got a big kick out of watching the boys and didn't mind a bit that they had buckets on their heads, noodles being slapped on the water in an attempt to hit a splash ball across the pool, and an occasional dive stick being thrown in the direction of thier nearest sibling by accident of course. Babushka always has their very favorite foods on hand and every kids dream; a porch full of so much stuff that they can rifle through and find goodies to play with, make thigns out of, dress up in, etc.. It is the porch of all porches with a year long christmas tree that doubles as the porch lighting at times. Babushka makes sure we go to the aquarium to pet the sting rays on each visit and this time we also went to park with a water spot where the kids could get wet ad enjoy the shooting spouts of water. All the boys progressed with their swimming and Victor swam the length of the pool the correct way! It as Yuri turn last year so I suspect Vanyas turn will be next year although if it is like every thing else he will probably catch his big brothers as fast as possible and ahead of course. All in all it is one of our favorite places and being able to share it with extended family makes it all the more attractive. The boys are still trying to figure out where all the relatives keep coming from. Little do they know they haven't even met them all! My grandmother was the youngest of 8 children so we have lots and lots of cousins most of whom also live on Florida.

Baseball - All the boys played baseball this year and what a whirlwind that was. I think it is the forshadowing of much more time mama is going to spend running from one field to the next to be there for the big hit or catch of the season. Yuri played machine pitch in the 9 year old league and had a great time this year with papa being one of the assistant coaches. He really progressed and earned the positions this year. His hitting is still good and he even got one out into the outfield in the air! He hasn't yet fiured out that if he actually put some effort into running to the bases that he would never get out! He is really fast and hasn't had to put forth much effort to stay safe but as the kids get older and their catching gets better then he is going to have step it up. He made some new friends and had a great time which is the point anyway, right?
Victor had a banner season in Tball this year. Things really clicked for him this year and he even got the MVP ball the very first game! His favorite thing was to go and get the ball wherever it was hit and then take over that position. He was a marvelous 1st base backup but when he felt as though the firstbasemen wasn't in the right spot he would just go and take over. We'll have to work on that but he knew exactly where to stand and where to throw and was just amazingly better than last. He hit some good balls and wanted so much to hit one into the outfield like Yuri but it just wasn't to be. He did pay very good attention and was always very proud of himself. He even kept up with his things and put them where they were supposed to go. That is a victory in itself!
Vanya had a great time playing in the dirt, throwing his hat up in the air, laying on the bench, racing his team mates to the ball. We probably should have waited to put him on a team but he is so talented we thought he would be excited about it. He lasted about 1-2 innings and then he was ready to go home. No excitement for the game this year but the same was true of Victor last year so we have hope that next year will be his year. He hit the ball fairly well and those little tiny legs looked like they were going so fast but it took him forever to get to first base and his little helmet was bouncing up and down the whole way. His head is so small that even with his ball cap on underneath, the batting helmets were way too big. He and Victor were on the same team so Victor helped Vanya get to the right position on the field. It was a little frustrating for papa to watch since he had been used to the older boys who actually knew which way to run when they hit the ball. The fidgety, butterfly chasing, hat throwing, grass pulling ways of the tball players were not quite as humourous to papa as they were to mama. I just enjoyed watching him have fun but do hope his attention span will increase for the sake of the team next year. Too much down time in tball. Anytime one of us were not right there present watching him he ended up in time out by the time we returned. Can you beleive it, time out in tball?! That should give you an idea of what his season was like. It was abslolutely precious to watch him when he was playing the game but the waiting around part was a little stressful for everyone involved.

Birthdays - Well the majority of the family have had birthdays now and we have had the first wedding of one of our kids. Vanyas birthday was covered in the previous post so next came Mayra's in May. I can't believe she is 23 now! Wow how time flies. She still has a great job and has a boyfriend who is good to her and we like him a lot. The two of them always do special things with and for the boys which is such a blessing. Because it was also Mothers day on Mayra's birthday we didn't get to spend it with her since papa took me right from church on a funfilled day of miniture golf, ice cream eating, arcade laying and dinner out. So her boyfriend has taken over the birthday specials. I did get to go to lunch with her after that and we celebrated her birthday then. She now shares an apartmnt with some girlfriends and I miss her very much and so do her brothers. It's hard to let go and not want to know all the day to day activities but she is happy and doing very well which is all we could ask for. I think there might even be some marriage plans in the future!
Speaking of wedding plans our other daughter, Crystal, got married in May! Travis was one of the groomsmen, Victor was the ring bearer and the other 2 boys pulled the runner. It was not our traditional type wedding but it was vey nice and we all enjoyed seeing her look so beautiful and happy. Really made us feel old though to have a child who is married and to also have a 5 year old still at home. We made her promise not to have children for a while becasue being grandparents would just be too weird right now.
Will continue later, ran out of time for tonight. Papa calls:)

Major events

We have had several major events that I am just now getting a chance to write about. I made it back form Ukraine on a fact finding missions to lay the ground work for our missions trip at the end of May as well as check on some of the project we have going with Heart for Orphans. Other than it being really cold it was very productive and very enlightening on many levels. Go God!!!

We had Valentines Day, Vanya's Birthday, first day of Tball/baseball etc etc.. First is Valentines Day. We had a family picture taken but are missing our older kids as they all had to work or were away wen we could go for the JC Penny special but I'm hoping they will all go so I can add them to the frame that hasn't been put up yet since it isn't complete.Here are a few pics of the day. I made them all a Valentines snow man with bananas and heart shaped pancakes but I did not repeat the chocolate chip pancake part this year. No "running through the yard in my bathrobe because someone threw up on the bus" for this mama! Oh no, not this year. I CAN be taught.

Vanya's turned 5! It is really hard to believe that he is 5. He is still very tiny and I call him my little peanut. It is still OK with him that I call him that so I want to savor every moment of time while he is still small enough for me to cradle and hold. He still weighs in at a mere 33lbs and stands 41 inches tall. This was a milestone birthday for him as he had decided that all kinds of things would change when he turned 5. He was convinced that when he woke up the morning of his birthday that he had grown tremendously because he was now 5. Other things included being able to eat and like big grapes (before he would only eat the very tiny ones), being able to pour his own salad dressing just the right amount as well as get just the right amount of toothpaste on his toothbrush. He had also decided that eh could not become 5 until he blew out the candles on his cake so that is what he asked for as soon as he got out of bed. I didn't give in to the cake for breakfast but did let him look at his cake that we would have later in his class for his party. He was very excited to get some birthday presents and I think the biggest hit was the whack -a-mole game. Finally a game that it is OK to take a hammer and whack it all you want! Suits him perfectly. We had his party in his class at school and so far that has sufficed for all the boys but I think we will probably let Yuri have a pool party this year since you don't get as much time in the classroom as you can have in kindergarten and preschool to do one at school. All the kids had a ball with the pin the tail on the donkey game and the balloon pop race. Since it was a half day at school it was very quick to get all that in and then have lunch and cake before the kids were released to go home. After we got home mama and Vanya went to the park with his new racket catch game that babushka got for him. She has one just like it that we play on her beach and he was thrilled to have one at home now too. We played at the park until the others boys got out of school and then we all went to the rec center pool as this was the birthday's request for what he wanted to do. We had a ball playing in the water and having races and such and got home in time to hook up with papa and take Vanya out for his special dinner with just mama and papa. We went to the Japanese steak house and it was a hoot. He got such a kick out of watching the food be prepared on the tepanyaki grill. Our chef was really funny and made Vanya laugh. They had quite a conversation going and the other people at the table enjoyed watching Vanya's excitement as well. He was a king for a day. It was pretty funny when they brought out a scoop of ice cream with a candle in it and sang happy birthday to him. His immediate reaction was, "Am I 6 now, mama?" After we had to burst his bubble and inform him that he would turn the next year older with or without blowing out candles then he just sat quietly and ate his ice cream as he looked as though he was just pondering life. What a trip this one is! He managed to finish his ice cream before he got so sleepy he conked out in the car on the way home. I still brought him upstairs and cradled him after putting on his new birthday PJ's and sang him his favorite songs and retold the story of how we met him and fell in love with him; after which he was totally out and I just watched him sleep in my arms and felt extremely grateful that God has blessed us so abundantly with these amazing little boys.

The next big event was the start of tball and baseball. This will be Vanya's first season to be old enough to play and he was sooooo excited to be on a team. They did put Victor and Vanya on the same team but I think they will do OK together. Their team is the Marlins and Yuri's team is the Mariners. Yuri will continue with machine pitch and the other 2 will play tball. It actually worked out well for us since we now only have 2 schedules to keep up with instead of 3. They were all decked out and ready to go. Papa went over with each one of them all the rules and bases and such before the practice. It was quite precious. Papa takes sports way more seriously than mama but the boys love all the attention and activity.

Yuri had been evaluated for speech therapy but the school system denied him services because his problem wasn't severe enough. It absolutely baffled me that they didn't think that only being able to be understood 80% of the time was severe. It effects his reading and spelling and basically everything else but fortunately the speech teacher is a believer and has a real heart for my boys. She is volunteering her time on Saturday mornings to work with Yuri the same way he would have gotten in school. What a tremendous blessing!!!!! We have noticed a difference already and it has only been 4 weeks. I didn't ask have Victor evaluated since his speech isn't quite as bad as Yuri's so he probably wouldn't have qualified either so we do the same exercises with him too but on our own for now.

Other big news is that Victor is now riding a 2 wheeler as of today March 22, 2009. The training wheels have been removed and he has only fallen once and run into one stationary car. Pretty good for his day! He was soo proud of himself for this accomplishment and Yuri even got on board and encouraged him which was great to see. Perhaps I am getting through just a little bit about how it is much more fun to treat each other nicely and get along than it is to fuss with each other all the time. Of course Vanya had to get in on the action and wanted his training wheel removed as well but he is still so small that he wouldn't be able to do it yet. Hopefully he will grow some more soon. Still being in a 3T (only as of January) is pretty small for a five year old. They don't even make tball pants small enough for him to wear. I am going to have to take them to be altered which will probable cost more than the pants themselves. Sewing isn't my thing so unfortunately it costs a lot more to have things fit right.
So far no more loose teeth but I'm expecting some in the near future from Yuri. Victor keeps telling me that he has lost a REALLY TINY tooth just so he can be in on the tooth fairy deal. I told him that the tooth fairy already knows which teeth you are supposed to loose and when you loose them so it would be fruitless to try and write her a letter about this tiny tooth. How funny their perception of things is.
We all continue to be busier than we want, dirtier than we like and eat more than we need but aside from those small things life is good and God is great!

Mama mama mama