Happy April....Ice Storms

Crazy kids with limited lights

We had an interesting adventure last week. A true Crazy weather glitch here. Just when you think we are going to see spring we got hit with a great big ice storm. All the trees and power lines were iced up and you guessed it the power went out!....for 3 1/2 days. Looks like a war zone in our nearest City with trees  and power lines down every where. They called it a state of emergency. 

Thankful that Dan is a Ice Fisherman so he had a propane heater to heat the basement and some solar lights to keep us in dim lights, a solar radio and solar panels that he hooked to a car battery that kept just enough charge to power a couple plug ins so we could keep a movie payer going for NeVaeh and get the WiFi going for awhile. We were only actually home bound for a day and a half so it wasn't too bad....brings back memories of 20+ years ago after an ice storm and no electricity for a week. We were then snowed in and isolated from the outside world and using candles....did have wood to heat back then but no electronics ...how the world has changed for being without electricity.

  

 Watching a movie together on Andres' little movie player

Ok so you guessed it we haven't finalized yet and its April 17th...LOL. Its just the way every thing has gone...Nothing goes on time as we have found out many times. However we have signed papers and sent them to the lawyer for the name changes so fingers crossed that it wont be very long that finalization will be complete.

 

Goofball I said smile not yell.... :)

 

Our source of electricity during our power outage. 

 

NeVaeh demonstrating her Talk Tablet app on the Ipad.

 

A little humor..The kids happened apon a Polka Time show and I told them it was what my parents used to watch so they tried out dancing to it.

One Year!!!

AMAZING!!!!!  Thats all I can say.  One Year ago today we were just meeting our two youngest children!! I cannot believe how far they have come!!!

All three in November.

This is Today!!

3/13/13

The three kids goofing around.

: 

3/36/12

One year ago we first met Aaliyah she run out and was very candid and snuggled up to mostly Daddy we were amazed how open she was to us and mostly him. She had the most wonderful foster parents who welcomed us into their home. They had meals with us and made even NeVaeh welcome. It was our home away from home while we were in Oregon.

3/15/12

 After she was brought home we encountered a few weeks of crying and not wanting us to do anything for her..especially me. She went from completely independent to totally dependent then suddenly after about 6 months a very sparky non-compliant fire cracker. As time has gone on we finally are coming to terms and she is now bonded with both of us and we feel like with her a lot of the trials and tests are hopefully coming to an end. Don't get me wrong...She's beautiful and very smart and great young lady She was always in her best behavior around others. We love her very much and are very grateful for having the been chose for being her parents. This has been a very Challenging year and I'm sure we have many more ahead of us.

Now after we met Aaliyah we got to meet Andres. We were scared after we met him as he was scared of us. We literally had to lure him away from the door with a Chicken nugget and French Fries as I sat on the floor lower than him like a puppy not to frighten him. He threatened to break the door down to leave, then threatened to throw us in hot lava. We did not get a good welcome or good vibe from his foster parents. Unfortunately they were of no assistance. We ended up without much 

bonding or contact with him in Oregon so had to start from scratch when we got home.

3/14/12

Once he got home it was a surprise. Though he was reserved he actually opened up quite quickly..yes we went through a lot of explosive behaviors this last year with him as we expected but they have so much improved and we have been able to slowly wean him down from his extremely high doses of medications he was on in Oregon. His worst time were in the first 6 months. Then they started to calm down. He is extremely bonded with us. Especially me. He very freely says "I love you" He is our little teddy bear!!! He is a completely different boy now than he was one year ago!!

3/26/12

NeVaeh through all of this has been wonderful! We wondered how she would manage turning into big sister after being the only child for over 5 years but she takes it in stride. She is a happy big sister...She is proud of her little brother and sister and when the going gets rough....she goes to her room...LOL. We worried as she is non-verbal and has some difficulties communicating but she doesn't seem to care. Andres will go out of his way to entertain her. He has from the time he came home ...and he was the one we were worried about...He even has learned some sign language to better understand her. It took a little while longer for Aaliyah to understand NeVaeh. She was pretty indifferent to her and even antagonized NeVaeh but we had to be firm with her and watch her closely around NeVaeh since NeVaeh can't Tell on her. They seem to have bonded some now. NeVaeh will be 9 on the 18th. She turned 8 the day we left Oregon last year. Aaliyah's foster parents were great and had a birthday party for her :)

3/18/12
NeVaeh got a nice jewlery box from Aaliyahs former foster parents when we were in Oregon.

Well our hair is a little more grey, and on a good day it gets combed. Sanity is sometimes optional...Would we do it over if we had a chance to go back?...Why of course!! Do it again?...Really thinking 3 is enough right now!!

April 16th is supposed to be the magic day that the adoption is actually finalized...yes we are still waiting !  We will believe it when we see it!!

Happy January

BUSY!!

 Thats what I can say about life right now.

 But you  know it is what it is :0 we signed up for it! Kids have Dr appts at least weekly or more the month of January and NeVaeh has ST every other week along with Swimming every other week...Oh yes and I miss my Brother so much!! I miss his music his smile and really appreciate everything he did especially now! 

Mom has swimming 3 times a week. If she misses her arthritis hurts so much and her spirits get down. I feel like I'm the only one that gets her there. My little brother and his wife try but Mom always gives them excuses cause they have a little baby. Little sis just lives too far away...She has tried but she has 3 kids herself. Got another brother and sis but they work during the week. Wish everyone could take a shift now and then. I Love mom dearly but with all my running I actually ended up somedays going to town 3 times in one day a few days a week to get all the appointments done and every one where they are supposed to be.

 NeVaeh and Aaliyah got new glasses this month. Andres had a routine ear check and ended up with ear infection so ended up with 3 return appts because of it.Then his usual appts. Aaliyah is going to have laser surgery again next month and probably another before winter end. She will most likely need an eye surgery at that time too. NeVaeh next year will probably need eye surgery but the dr said we will wait and watch another year. Mom had a couple of her Dr appts. Oh yeah and I had to fit my work schedule in there too LOL.

Thank the lord for Dan to watch the other kids and help out with everything as I don't think just one person could ever do all of this.

The bright side is Oregon sounds like they are about ready to finalize...We had to redo our homestudy..4th year uggg. But sooooon Andres and Aaliyah will officially be ours!!!!

Its been 10 months...Hoping we can be final before the 1 year mark!!

 NeVaeh got 2 pair of glasses.. one from the optical store and one cheap mail order. We will see if she will keep from breaking them. There's a script in them to try to correct her lazy eyes to hopefully keep her from needing surgery. Hoping we can keep her glasses on!

 Andres loves his Grandma!!

 New specs

 Goofy kid

 

Loving Daddy 

Dan has a hobby of taking pictures of sunrises. I think its his way of keeping his sanity! Thinking I need to do something like that someday!

Our First Christmas as 5!

Wow this year is nearing an end and we are getting comfortable and feeling more "normal" as a family of 5.

We just celebrated our first Christmas as a family of five! The happiness and spirit from the three drowned out the saddness of missing my brother Paul. He would have wanted us to be Happy for the Holidays so he got his wish!

Dan and I went over board getting toys for the kids this year but I think the kids appreciated it.

 Teddy Bears from NeVaeh

 Even Sue Z Q gets something

 Cheese.....

 No Aaliyah this is my picture LOL

 

What a ham :)

NeVaeh wasn't feeling good for Christmas. She had been under the weather for a couple weeks again. She got all tuckered out and fell asleep soon after opening presents. We got a call from the doc the day after Christmas telling us the lab work they drew last week shows she has Mono :( . Hopefully she will get some energy soon!!

The clowns all piled into Aaliyahs bed and were very candid for a photo!

We had two family gatherings the kids enjoyed also. This first set of pics are from Dan's side.

 All the kids on Dan's side....Its much smaller than my side...We couldn't even attempt a picture..LOL...NeVaeh didn't feel well so she didn't get into the picture.

This next set of pictures are from the gathering from Patti's side..Guess I didn't take many pictures.

 Grandma trying Aaliyah's tiger hat on :)

Wishing everyone a happy new year!!