Summer Olympics 2020?

I really think I have an exceptional child! I know all parents think that, but Chase just amazes me with his swimming skills. He is not 5 years old yet, but he is diving, doing somersaults into the pool and swimming like a little fish! He has not had a single lesson and it just seems to come so naturally to him. Do I have another Michael Phelps in the making? Michael was raised by a single mom, had adhd and his mom got him into swimming because he was just so active, and look at him now! Boy I hope that's the case with Chase!

We are loving the Olympics, the kids are glued to the television. We especially like the gymnastics (Go Nastia! our hometown girl!), the swimming and the diving. And who knew that bouncing on a trampoline was an Olympic sport?! Maybe Caroline could have a shot at it too!

For a good cause

My blogger friend Rachel has asked us (okay, bribed us with prizes) to post a link to her etsy store where she sells some of the cutest things with a "Russia" theme. If you look to the left side of my blog, you'll see the pictures of some of her things, click on that and it will take you to her etsy store. All of them are handmade by her and her sisters, it's a real family affair! The proceeds from her store go to fund a project for an orphanage in St. Petersburg, Russia. At Christmas time, another blogger friend, Kate, buys presents with the money Rachel makes from her store, and delivers them to the children in this orphanage. If you have never been to a Russian orphanage, you will never understand the dire conditions these children live in; if you have been, then you will totally understand. These children have nothing to call their own, they share everything; so to give them simple things every child should have, is a luxury to them. Rachel's own daughter was adopted from St. Petersburg, Russia, if you skip over to her blog, you'll find tons of gorgeous pictures of her Katya along with her other beautiful children.

So take a moment to look around her simple wishes store and just to let you know... if you were wondering; I've got the ceramic mugs with the cyrillic writing on my Christmas wish list!

Creative Visualization?

It has been hot, hot, hot here in Dallas. We are in the middle of a Texas heat wave; today it is supposed to be 107 degrees! It's too hot to play outside, the pool feels like bath water; I've even investigated having ice delivered to cool down the pool, but it would take 4000 lbs. of ice to cool the pool 10 degrees! So we are trying to find things to do in the house to stay out of the heat. Caroline and Chase have decided that maybe if they think and play like it's cold outside, maybe it will happen. Every day they haul out all their winter stuff, hats, boots, gloves and play like they are in the snow, making snow angels in the hallway, creating snowmen with their large "Hippity Hops" and decorating them with stickers, pretending to have snowball fights with small balls by pelting each other with them! Anything that has to do with winter fun, they are recreating. Here is how I found Chase the other day:




In other news; we are coming up on our 1 year anniversary as a family! We just finished our 1 year post placement visit. It is so hard to believe that one year ago, my sister Gail and I were packing and finishing up last minute details to bring these kids home! It's almost two years to the date that I got my referrals for these beauties, what an incredible journey this has been.



I've decided that we'll be celebrating our "Family Day" on September 1st as that is the day we came home. Not the anniversary of our court date, I really didn't feel like a family on that day. For all you parents that are home, how did or would you celebrate your day? Did you have a big party? Did you celebrate with just your kids? Let me know some of the traditions you have incorporated into your special day.

Jane