A New Day

I am thankful that God gives us a new day to start over!  Today is going to be a better day!  I usually try to whisper when I am correcting the children.  The girls (all three of them) seem to respond better to this.  Sometimes, I think it frustrates them because I choose not to raise my voice.  It definitely helps keep me calmer as well. 

For their birthday, a friend of Haylee and Hannah's gave them each a day to play at her house and eat their favorite things.  Hannah is going today and Haylee is going tomorrow.  They are very excited.  Some of their homeschool friends also swim on the swim team with them.  They are developing sweet friendships with them.  My heart was warmed the other day when we pulled up to class and some of the girls came running to see them.  They wanted to know if they were going to swim team after class.  Their mom told me they couldn't wait to get to class and see them.  I am happy they are developing their own friendships.  Things should go okay at the friends because they will each have one on one time with their friend for a day. 

10th Birthday

We celebrated the girls birthday last Friday.  They had about 10 friend join them at Chuck*E*Cheese.   The seemed to have a really good time.  He danced with them and gave each of them a birthday medal.  They are turning ten, which would normally be too old for this party, but they loved it.  I am sure they have not had something like this in the past.  Unlike last year, they invited people that they are friends with. 

Morgan's best friend went with us for the day.  She goes to church with us, so the twins wanted to invite her.  She and Morgan always have a fun time together.

 My husband and I with the birthday girls.

 After the pizza party, the party moved to the skating rink to celebrate the birthday of a girl at our birthday party.  Everyone continued to have a great time skating and just being together. 

Tucker was a good big brother and pushed all of the younger kids around on these little rolling carts.  A fun time was had by all.

The girls actually turn ten Wednesday.  We have something planned for that day, but Alex will enjoy it the most and his birthday is October 18th.  It happened to be the day it was available. 

They are doing pretty well dealing with their birthday.  A few old habits have slipped back in and a little testing is going on, but overall I can't complain.

I am very proud to call them my daughters.  I am so thankful God has blessed us with them!!

Success...for one

Morgan's best friend turned eleven last week.  She had a spend the night party.  She also had a spend the night party last year.  Both years she has invited all three girls.  Last year, we didn't let the twi*ns spend the night.  We didn't feel like they were ready.  This year I talked to the mother a long time about what to watch for and to expect.  We decided to let them try to spend the night.

They all three stayed all night.  Morgan came home happy with them and not complaining which means they did okay.  I have seen some pictures from the party and they all looked happy.  Hannah ran out to me the next morning very proud.  She said, " I did it and didn't have any bad dreams!"  She was very excited and proud.  She should be!  I am very happy for her this is a big step.  I was really only worried about her.  She had a great day yesterday after the party.  She is doing very well right now.

However, Haylee didn't do so well yesterday.  She had a great time at the party.  I knew she would.  One of her good friends also spent the night, so I knew she would be fine.  Yesterday was not a good day for her.  She disobeyed on a very simple thing.  I told her not to do something and the next thing I know, she is doing it.  She said she wanted to do it and so she did.  Ugh!!  Then she was writing scripture as part of the punishment for disobedience.  I specifically told her she wasn't to play or watch TV until she was finished.  I find her in the hallway watching the movie Hannah and Morgan are watching.  Ugh...again.  She finished her scripture and played for the afternoon.  We all watched a movie last night and she had to go to bed early and not participate in the popcorn and movie.  I am so sad about this. I guess she is comfortable enough in our home now that she is starting to test.  I wonder if her testing yesterday was because the boundaries at the party weren't as strict.  She wanted to know if she could do the same at home. 

Lately, most of her problems have revolved around food.  I have been praying for God to show me what is going on.  I talked to her about the fact that she always has plenty of food here and she knows she will be provided the next meal as well.  She agreed  with me.  I am praying God will give me wisdom regarding this issue. 

Birthday Party

I took the girls to the birthday party last week. I was anxious about the whole thing. I went in with the girls and the Mom in charge started telling me the plans for the scavenger hunt. It was great! They were not going in stores. I was so relieved! They went to an older ladies house and gave her hugs and she told about her birthdays during her lifetime. It was her pastors mother-in-law. They went to the local food bank and donated can goods. The lady explained how by helping feed the needy they are acting as Jesus would. They also went to a new pastor homeschooling family and built pyramids in their yard and rang the doorbell and welcomed them to town. I did leave them and she said they did well. Of course, they were on the back porch when I arrived to pick them up and I could hear them above everybody. She said they weren't the only loud girls there.

I was very happy they did well. Baby steps...

What do you do...

when you suspect an adopted daughter is flirting with a birth son? She begs him to play outside with her and desires his attention. She will do stupid things to get attention, just like flirting.

We were all in the kitchen a few minutes ago having a snack. She doesn't like banana at all. She told him she would try it. She was doing her fake smiley face and flirting!! Other kids were in the kitchen laughing also. She took the banana and started the drama about needing a drink, giggling, etc. I stopped the drama there. I told everyone to leave the kitchen but her. I told her she was going to eat it because she is just trying to get attention. She needed to stop flirting because he is her brother. She said,"I don't like him." Interesting, she knew exactly what I was referring too. She is obsessed with this type thing. She has definitely been into this boyfriend/girlfriend thing before coming to our house. How early does this start? She was finishing the second grade when she came here? It may be from TV shows they were allowed to watch before coming her also. I don't believe there is any abuse in their past. I guess I am going to have to talk to my son also. He needs to be very careful with her. He can't play with her like he does Morgan. Situations like this bring up the trust issues I have with her. I have always had a feeling of not totally trusting her. Maybe because she has told me about things she had done and lied about in her previous homes.

We saw a boy at a gas station yesterday that was on Morgan's soccer team. He is very needy and has some emotional issues. Of course, Morgan was very nice to him while on his team, unlike people that know him and his problems from school. It meant alot to him that Morgan was his friend. Well, he came over and spoke to Morgan. My heart breaks for him because I know his family isn't stable. Morgan was very polite and friendly. As soon as we pulled out, she said, "I think he likes Morgan." Ugh...can't you just be friends with boys and girls? Maybe my birth children are too sheltered regarding dating, but I think I like it that way!!

They are growing!!

The girls are all growing!! All three of them!! I am thrilled that we have this problem, because the girls are under treatment for growth issues. I am hoping they continue to grow so we don't have to enter the world of growth hormones. We are continuing to pray that God will remove the entire issue by them continuing to grow. We think Hannah is growing a little faster than Haylee, which is good because was shorter than Haylee. My husband says she has grown over two inches since May. Wonderful!!

Due to the growing, we are having to shift jeans around so everyone will have jeans long enough. I am excited that we are having this problem, but that also means I have to buy more jeans. Ugh! Morgan is very slim. Morgan had been squeezing into some 7 slim jeans and finally we said no more. (Morgan is having a hard time passing her clothes down to her sisters. I guess once again she is having to share everything.) She has a pair of eight slims that fit her well, so that is what we will purchase for her. However, Haylee and Hannah are small but not as thin as Morgan. The 7 slim pants that Morgan was squeezing into fit Haylee, barely. The length was good, but she had to work to button them. I think they will be okay. I guess Hannah and Haylee will be regulars and not slims. Oh well, no big deal. They can almost wear the same size jeans eventhough they are shaped differently. Haylee's little best friend is shaped like Morgan and can wear her old jeans if Haylee can't.

What a boring post, but it is our life and drama today!!

Have a wonderful and joyous day!!

Nice Afternoon

All four girls played well together. I would hear some voices raise and then calm back down. Each time I checked on them, Hannah was with them. She was hanging on the outskirts of the playing. For example, one time she was holding and petting the dog. Baby steps...

I was able to get info together to go the social security office for new numbers. Does my adoption decree have to be an original or can it be a copy?

Friends

How do you help a 9 year old girl develop friendships? Hannah wants a friend so bad she smothers them. I don't know how to help her. We have a friend over today and I reminded her before the girl came to not invade her personal space and to not be pushy or demanding towards her. Well, we weren't home 5 minutes and I had to call her from the room and have a discussion wth her. Haylee doesn't struggle with this issue. It makes me so sad for Hannah. I don't want her to not be able to develop friendships.

Overall things are going pretty well in our house. I had a busy but nice break with the girls at my parents for two nights. The first thing Haylee said to me when she got home was, "We didn't get in trouble." Well, I guess she heard our repeated warnings before they left. My parents said they were super. I am so happy that they did so well. Hannah even said she wasn't scared at night. This is huge for her!!!

Both girls are doing okay in school. Hannah is completing her work more accurately and Haylee is doing her work quickly and accurately. I think her meds have leveled out and we can function on this dosage. She is transitioning better in the afternoons. She is usually at swim team or dance during that time and I believe that has helped. Morgan is regressing some in her diligance. I guess the newness of being the big sister has worn off. She is slipping back into her baby mode in some ways. I have to say, I was glad some of those days were behind us. Hopefully they won't last long.

We are having my family here for Thanksgiving. My parents and my brother and his wife and their new baby will be here. I am excited about them coming. They will all be here for two nights. I think the girls will do okay. I am going to have to make an effort to make sure they get enough sleep. Our issues are much worse without sleep.

I was talking with the girls about the menu yesterday and Haylee's requests were cranberry sauce out of a can and pumpkin pie. I am not a fan of pumpkin pie, but I guess I will make one for her. I am excited for them as we celebrate this first Thanksgiving and Christmas with them.

All in all, they are doing great!!

Wonderful Weekend!

We had a great weekend celebrating the girls ninth birthday! We had a 30 foot waterslide in our front yard from lunch Friday until 8 pm Saturday night. They had a blast!! By the time the party was here, the girls were getting tired of the slide. I gently reminded them all of those kids are here to play with them. They went and continued to play. They were beyond excited with all of the many presents they were blessed with by our wonderful friends. There were about 30 kids here for the party. Of course, with a slide that big, we let all of the siblings participate also. I believe our oldest child was 16 and the youngest was 3 on the slide. I went down one time when we had an injured child at the top that wouldn't come down. It was fast and fun coming down.

The girls were exhausted by Saturday night, but they hung in there. Beth started getting a little short and snappy with me, but we got through it until bed time. She put a cute bracelet around her ankle after the party. We told her that we didn't wear things tied around our ankles, even bracelets, and she needed to take it off. Se proceeded to tell me that she couldn't and it was meant to stay on her ankle. I asked her why she put it on then and she said that she wanted it there and it was meant to stay and she had done it before. I told her very quickly that she would just have to cut it off then and that she is a ***(our last name) now and that we don't do that. Amazing, after I put my foot down, she was able to untie it. (One of my husbands pet peeves is people wearing bracelets around their ankles.) It is really cute for her WRIST so I am glad she was able to get it untied. She did get past it and move on.

The girls had Happy Birthday sang to them at church today. They seemed to really like that.

All in all, it was a great weekend. Ann melted this afternoon because she couldn't make a bracelet. Ann has made a new best friend. It is a sweet little girl that I would call my own. I am happy for her. She was making her a friendship bracelet tonight. The little girls Mom and I are good friends. (She is probably reading this also.) Our only concern is that they both are totally in la-la land sometimes. They have a great time playing together, but they are clueless to anything going on around them. They sit together in church and dance during praise and worship together. I knew she would be the first to make a friend.

I doesn't come easy for Beth at all. She was dancing in church with her new doll today and it was very sweet. Morgan was dancing with her best friend and Ann with hers. Beth appeared totally happy with her doll.

My mother gave them both Amer*ican Girl dolls for their birthday. A friend gave them Madam*e Alex*ander dolls. They absolutely love all of them!! I am so happy they are happy!!

I am so thankful that God is healing their little hearts. I think they are healing a little everyday. This is a hard time for them with their birthdays and the adoption becoming final. Please pray for them over the next week two weeks.