The Addinks

That's a lot of bunk in one room.

2012-01-26T19:51:00.001-07:00

And I'm not talking about the bullpen area where I sit at work.

Or the US Congress.

Or the Oval Office.

Although they all would fit the description...

Sophie isn't sleeping through the night and keeps waking Ella up, so she's been a nomad sleeping in blanket piles around the house. She said she wanted her own bed again.

The only option was to move her into the buckaroo bunkhouse.

Sophie better get her act together before summer, or that ceiling fan is going to take off a few heads...

It took less than a day for the crutch to become a gun

2012-01-24T14:43:00.001-07:00

Lazy Sunday afternoon

2012-01-22T16:45:00.001-07:00

We wondered how long it would take for someone to discover the shade sails could double as a giant hammock. Six and. Half years is the answer. And it surprises no one that Levi is the one who made the discovery...

Luke, watering the orange tree... And his brother and sister. If you look closely, you can see a screaming boy peeking out the very top of the tree. Again, no surprise that this is Levi.

Sophie has figured out how to fit in perfectly. Nothing says "Addink kid" like boy undies on your head!

Enjoy a little late breaking holiday spirit

2012-01-15T12:39:00.000-07:00

Update to the post below: I discovered that because I made the video during the exclusive 48 hour window when they were offering it free, I can post it. Whoop-ee! Enjoy!

Personalize funny videos and birthday eCards at JibJab!

Makes a father's heart swell with pride...

2012-01-14T22:07:00.000-07:00

Levi and Noah had parent teacher conferences on Friday. One of the sheets for review was Levi's sentence composition worksheet. "Heat" is really "hate," and you should pronounce the last word with hard "c" sounds like "k."

Paige said she wasn't supposed to take this paper home, but had to because she was laughing so hard at it.

And when she finally stopped laughing, she promptly told their teacher that she blamed this all on his father.

Which is probably appropriate.

Before Christmas I got an email from Jib Jab informing me that they had a new Christmas themed video...

So I immediately clicked the link, and loaded up the Addink kid faces into the video. Which, as you may have guessed, was the Nutcracker theme, performed with flatulence.

Unfortunately I can't post the video without paying $12 to become a member, but you can make your own here.

So as kids and I were dying laughing at the video of them prancing around and tooting the music... Mom walked up.

She was not impressed at my parenting skills.

I was immediately sent to time out, which the kids thought was even funnier than the video.

Thus Levi was inspired for his declarative, interrogative, exclamatory, imperative, and compound sentences (and got 100% on the worksheet, mildly inappropriate subject matter and all.)

Luke-isms

2012-01-14T21:48:00.000-07:00

Luke is absoultely hilarious lately. This kid talks non-stop, and lives in this imaginary universe full of space cowboys, desert bulls, and various other creatures. Plus, he says most of his "r" and "l" sounds as this odd combinations of "w" and "h." And all his "o" sounds come out like "awe." That means his daily monologue is this minature version of Elmer Fudd, wandering through the house discussing desert bull potty behavior or space cowboy planet roping technique.

So here is a post dedicated to Luke-isms, some personally witnessed, others texted to me by Paige:

One of my favorites is mouth, teeth, and breath. The other days, as he is galloping out to the van, he says to me "Dad, I am gowing to cwose my mouse, and howd my bweast behind my teats." Seriously... how do you respond to that sentence?
"Mowm, wouwd lowng howrnie be a good name for a lowng howrn?" I have no idea what he was talking about either.
In an exasperated voice... "Mowm, wook what Sophie did. She bwoke dis cap owff. Ohhhh, this child!"
"Dis shawrk has lownger teats than owther shawrks. It's a tusk shawrk!"
"What do weindeewr eat? Ohhh, gwass! OK, I'm going outside to eat gwass. Hey wait! How do dey eat gwass if they live in the awrtic?!"
"Uncastwated means fixed, ownly diffewentewr." Paige claims he made up the word "castrated" but I am convince Grandpa must have been telling his stories on the "farm" at Christmas.
Space cowboy has been an ongoing theme for quite a while. He wanders about talking about his plans for his spaceship, how mom is going to come along to make food, Dad is coming to come with the guns, and help rope the planets, Levi will bring donuts from his donut shop (Levi's current aspiration in life is to become a donut shop man.) He describes how they will rope all the planets and crack them in half, and fly into the sun, and how the spaceship will have a soccer field inside it, and... Seriously, it is non-stop chatter four hours about outer space plans. And of course, all proper space cowboys wear purple pirate hats...

Not sure exactly what he was being in this picture. Maybe a gangster of love?

Our other kids wrinkle up their nose at any food not covered in cheese or sugar. Luke goes to the grocery store specifically so he can pick out things he has never tried before to see if he likes them. The other day it was radishes. Really? What kid does that? Then a couple days ago it was cucumbers. And he actually like them.

He also loves to be a desert bull. None of us are quite sure what a desert bull is, or where he got it from. But he know everything about desert bull behavior. "Dad, desewrt bowls don't even stop when they poop or pee. They just go when they awre wunning, and get it white on dewr hooves! And they awso have steam in their bewlies, and they wun weally fast, so fast they could catch Wevi, and the steam comes out of theiwr hooves to make them go fast!" He knows their sleeping habits, what they like to eat, where they live. Everything.
He said to Sophie the other day "Come awn baby desewrt bowl, wet me show you mowre about bein a desewrt bowl!"
Today he rolled in sand and told me "I'm takin a dort baff, cause that is what desewrt bowls do!"

"Im a cowboy wit indian feddewrs on my head!"

Christmas at ground zero

2012-01-14T21:12:00.001-07:00

We went to Grand Rapids for Michigan this Christmas. My in-laws are currently in the middle of adding on to their house. And ripping out the entire kitchen. And laying down unfinished and very nice cherry flooring.

Just as we show up with five kids.

Needless to say, our Christmas vacation was a weeeee bit chaotic, what with waking to the sharp crack of nail guns every morning, to being holed up in the basement on the verge of cabin fever, the mud swamp of a front yard, and a kitchen that consisted of only the kitchen sink.

Family... that is what is important about the holidays, right?

Despite all the chaos, we did still have fun while we were there.

Sophie got all bundled up for her first snow (or summer in Ethiopia. Seriously... we saw kids in snowsuits there.)

We got a dusting of snow on Christmas Eve, but the kids were just dying to go for a sled ride. So out came the Kubota to drag them over the snow.

They had fun for a while but then got cold.

"Dad... my faith ith num."

Levi, however... that kid lives for danger. While everybody else piled in the back of the Kubota, he was screaming to go faster. Faster! So he got his own ride with the go pedal on the floor. Behind that spray of snow and partially frozen horse plops is a boy experiencing pure joy.

Not sure exactly what she was so upset about just prior to this picture, but she can still bust out the goofy grin on command.

Speaking of Christmas at ground zero... I don't believe I have ever seen presents opened so fast. There were eight kids and every present disappeared from under the sad Charlie Brown tree in approximately a minute thirty five. It was insane.

Levi got what he has been asking for for several months... four coconuts.

Ella and Luke went ice skating.

I sat in a deer blind and saw bupkis.

And then did it several more time. Stilllllll bupkis.

Sophie got some bling in her ears.

Levi and Noah saw more deer action than I did, albeit cardboard.

On my last day there, we lit a big ol' bonfire with construction scraps. Noah here is animatedly explaining the technique Indians would have used with this fabulous smoke signaling fire.

Luke and cousin Max helping to haul sticks.

Levi, helping to provide a nitrogen boost for some lucky tree.

"We awe sowdiers hiding in da gwass and pwotecting our fowest!"

Attack! ('Bout lost an eye taking this.)

The rugrats ankle-biters lovely children

2011-12-05T21:36:00.000-07:00

I somehow got roped into going to JC Penny on Black Friday to have pictures taken of all five kids. At the same time. Smiling.

Yeah, that's what I thought too.

We did manage to get a few taken, but those will remain a surprise for the semi-annual ~~Christmas~~ ~~New Years~~ Valentine's Day (if I am lucky) letter.

The Black Friday deal was a large discount on the CD and digital rights, and they slipped in a few extras from previous sessions.

So in no particular order, the munchkins...

(not sure why Sophie gets two pictures and every one else only gets one. But she does.)

Santa in the park

2011-12-05T21:18:00.000-07:00

Santa usually stops by the park at the end of our street each year. This year, for whatever reason, our kids were really into writing out their Christmas lists for Santa. So Saturday we walked over to deliver the lists.

If she were in Ethiopia, they probably would have had her dressed in about 3 more layers.

Luke would get near Santa, but wouldn't sit on his lap.

Sophie didn't have a choice, for the obligatory "kid screaming on Santa's lap" picture.

She recovered quickly though.

Levi and Noah had no interest in even talking to Santa, but they did stuff their letters into his mailbox.

They are convinced that since all three of them wrote Press Dough (as seen on TV!) on their lists, that Santa would just have to bring it to them. From what I gathered, "Santa" may have been suckered into it. Dang Qubo TV channel...

Friday night drags

2011-12-05T21:07:00.000-07:00

My boss built himself an awesome hot rod. It was a '30s Chevy. Not that there is much left on it that is original. A bunch of us from work spent Friday night at the drag strip watching him and others run.
The traffic director wouldn't get out of the way for a good photo.

We didn't see many cars that night that could beat his low 11 second and 120+ mph 1/4 mile passes.

I got to take a few rides down the strip as well, unfortunately not in the hot rod. Rode in a co-worker's Nissan Z, where she got blown away by this Nissan GT-R. We were doing 90+ mph at the end of the 1/4, and that GT-R took off like we were standing still.

Welllllllll, that was a bust.

2011-11-21T01:23:00.001-07:00

Paige got us Groupon tickets to the Arizona Balloon Classic. From the description, it sounded pretty cool... "more than 50 balloons", fireworks, balloons lit to music, food vendors. Just the kind of thing for an enjoyable evening with the family. It sounded like so much fun, Paige invited some friends and their kids, and I invited a guy from work and his wife. I mean, take a look at the beautiful balloon pictures, and it says right there... "more than 50 balloons." Fifty. Five zero.

Ummmmm, yeah. They barely had enough balloons there to make their logo truth in advertising. Really, I think we counted a total of about 5 balloons. Only a factor of 10, but who's counting?

I think we still had a good time though.

The kids got to see a balloon get filled up.

They all got surprised looks on their faces when the giant burners shot flames in the air. I mean, really? You would think they would be used to that around our house by now. I have some parenting ground to make up, apparently.

Sophie was terrified by the noise of the burners. Every time one went off, she would burrow down and grab whatever piece of you she could.

Luke was clearly entralled by the excitement of seeing soooooo many balloons. I think he got in a good 90 minute nap.

We did get to see a very pretty sunset. Of which my phone took a better picture than my actual camera. Technology blows my mind sometimes.

Then the amazing light show. This was seriously it, unless you include the one other balloon off to the side that was giving rides to the dizzying height of 50 feet.

If only I had looked at the website and the exhaustive list of balloons that would be participating in this innaugural event, I might have been able to mentally prepare myself for the mind blowing spectacle that was the evening light show...

At least they had deep fried stuff though. Even if they did run out of meatballs and wings, seeing as that there were only about 10 food vendors for a few thousand people and I waited in line for at least an hour. Good thing our kids love corndogs!

Our kids did think the skydivers were pretty cool (way too hard to get a picture of) and they did have a fireworks show.

We also discovered a new skill. You know how sometimes people call Mountain Dew... "Weasel Pee."

Yeah... or Luke. Kid has pretty good aim.

We handed it to one of our friend's kid (who didn't witness the act) and he was totally excited to finish off the Dew. Until he felt just how warm the bottle was, and then the look on his face as the realization hit him was absolutely priceless.

A good end to a marginal night. Sorry we dragged you out there through hours of traffic for a pitiful show. We did have fun hanging out though...

Maybe our parenting is sinking in...

2011-11-21T00:51:00.001-07:00

... a little? Just a ray of hope that we might possible be instilling some small amount of civilization into these tiny barbarians?

The background: Levi and Noah typically don't participate in household cleaning well. Not willingly, and not without significant.... ~~temper tantrums~~ protest. So when I asked them on Saturday to help clean up their giant mess in the playroom, I expected an "Occupy the Upstairs" type protest, complete wailing about how they shouldn't have to take responsibility for their own actions.

Instead they happily cleaned the playroom.

And then surprised me with this...

And they actually meant it. I gave them more cleaning to do... and they [gasp] did it.

Maybe... just maybe... we are slowly getting through...

It's an amazingly accurate portrayal

2011-11-14T00:07:00.000-07:00

They came out of our bedroom the other night, barely able to speak between the giggles. Ella had played dressup with them, and dressed them like Mom and Dad.

That's pretty accurate, really...

If you can't get over someone...

2011-11-13T23:42:00.001-07:00

The other day we were going to pick the big kids up from school. I was listening to the radio and this song came on...

Listen to it at least to the chorus.

From the back seat, I hear Luke say:

"Mom, if you can't get over someone, maybe you should go under them."

Hilarious, that little kid is.

Shocking (Shocking!)

2011-11-12T20:06:00.022-07:00

At the park on Saturday, the big'uns discovered static electricity. Well, not discovered in the sense of Marie Curie, or really even the first time they'd experienced. More like they discovered the joy of blasting your sibling with an inch long blue arc.

Nothing brings a smile to your face like electrocuting your brother. See? That is joy on their faces right there...

Of course, boys being boys, it didn't take long before zapping each other's fingers progresssed to more, ummmmm, sensitive regions.

If a finger zap is joy, then a successful spark to your brother's nether-regions is just pure bliss.

Especially when successfully repeated.

"Oh my goodness Dad, he zapped me right in my bits!!! Awwwwk-ward!"

I have no idea where they could have learned to take such joy in inflicting electricity on their fellow humans.

Much less members of their own family.

"Dad, it's like there was force field around me this big!"

Then they got soaking wet in the sprinklers.

While Sophie played in the puddles...

... and drank from them.

Go to sleep...

2011-11-12T12:21:00.001-07:00

Attempt 1... squeaks from the bench at the end of the hallway...

Attempt 2... giggles from the bathroom...

Finally in bed... even if he is roaring like a tyranosaurus...

Grrrrrrrrrr.. this is most definitely the downstairs couch, not his upstairs bedroom...

He'd be in far more trouble if he weren't so darn cute.

He gets this from his Aunt Gina

2011-11-09T21:29:00.000-07:00

He's like a combination of Elton John, Willy Wonka, and Scuba Steve.

And possibly a bit of Aunt Lindsay as well...

Noah got saved by Jesus tonight

2011-11-08T19:53:00.001-07:00

Not like you think. We are still hoping and praying for that day.

He stepped on a scorpion.

I got the following text this afternoon: "Noah just stepped on a live scorpion and by the grace of God was NOT stung."

"PS. I'm moving"

The scorpion was right in our front entryway, and Paige said she saw it right before he stepped on it and half threw him off of it.

I replied to her text with "So you can step right on them and they don't sting? See, they really are harmless..."

Paige was not amused. There was a swear word in her response.

Speaking of amusing, just prior to that I got another text. Luke has learned from his older brothers to scream the worst things he can think of when he is angry. And apparently it makes him very angry to be awoken from his nap. The text was as follows...

"Every day when we get home and Luke is sleeping I am verbally assaulted by him when I wake him up. Today it was 'I'm going to pee in your eye!' For some reason I can't stop laughing about that one, and boy does that make the angry pee-er mad!"

I about spit my coffee all over my desk.

Also from earlier today...

"Luke just ate a bowl of white bean chicken chili. 'Mmmmmmm, I like tomatoes now because I just ate one and I liked it!' A few minutes later... 'I don't think Levi and Noah will like this soup but I do.' Ya think?"

Yeah, I think. Some battles just aren't worth fighting, and trying to get Levi or Noah to eat soup with tomatoes (tomatoes!) in it would be one of those. I can only imagine the things they would yell.

Let's just hope Jesus saves them all. Soon.

Halloween

2011-11-06T23:20:00.000-07:00

Grab bag

2011-11-06T23:11:00.000-07:00

Noah enjoying one of his favorite activities. Kid loves to read, and is always stealing my book lights so he can read up in the top bunk at bedtime.

Luke taking his usual "pick the big kids up from school" nap. Paige said he insisted on having some toilet paper tied around his neck, because all pirates have a "thing" around their neck.

Sophie enjoying one of her favorite activities... eating markers.

She also loves electronics, and will make virtually anything into a phone. In this case, the VCR remote. Also note the giant bruise on her forehead. She got real up close and personal with the corner of the bedpost. Poor kid. Two days later and she still has a sizeable goose egg.

The same day Sophie met the bedpost, Luke fell off the climber in our playroom and gave himself a shiner. So much for all the nice pictures of the kids that Paige had planned.

Levi enjoying one of his favorite activities.

And Luke enjoying one of his. Nothing like the freedom of tinkling in the great out of doors.

Levi got to go on a date night with Paige, and I got this picture. All I could think was that this is probably what I looked like on my first date with Paige. The kid comes by the awkwardness honestly...

I guess I shouldn't wonder where they get this from...

2011-10-14T20:23:00.001-07:00

Paige got an outdoor fireplace yesterday, and we roasted hot doges and marshmallows. Tonight the boys wanted a fire just so they could throw things in to burn.

Underwear ninjas... or... it must be getting colder at night

2011-10-12T23:29:00.000-07:00

After bath time tonight, I told them to go get underwear on. They did... twice.

And then wore them into bed, giggling the whole time.

They were so excited for mom to come home and see them...

Free at last!

2011-10-05T00:09:00.000-07:00

(the closet of baby heads on sticks)

Fifteen weeks seemed like a long time to be trapped in a stinky, sweaty, unattractive helmet back in May, but today Sophie graduated and is free at last! We are so glad it's all over and done. Now we can see all of our curly haired kiddo again, and I can stop kissing plastic all the time. Hooray!

(in the bank robber stocking for the head scan)

(caliper measurements)

(off for good, and we get to keep the baby head on a stick!)

So, you probably want to know the results and if it was all worth it. I have pictures to share of the results below.

**First a disclaimer.** Sophie started her DOC band at 12.5 months of age. The optimum age to wear/use one is around the 6 month mark when the head is super soft and growing like crazy. So while there was still a small window of hope to bring some change to the shape of her head, we knew it would not be drastic and it would be very slow and gradual, thus needing the full 15 weeks. We decided to go ahead and give it a try any way, and see what growth, if any we could capture. The end result is small, but we are pleased. Not as much as we had hoped, but what was expected.

(before on the left, after on the right. The top set you can see how the back of her head rounded out a bit. The bottom set you can see how her forehead got a little more even.)

If I had to do it again I would. It was about giving it a try and not living with regrets with the would have, could have, should have, scenarios I live with in my head. We gave it our best shot and we gained a bit. I don't have to wonder if I should have done something more for my child.

(Luke tagged along)

Not To Be Forgotten

2011-10-04T23:44:00.000-07:00

September 21st has come and gone, but you should all still get in on the cuteness of our baby girl turning 8!! Hard to believe she is that old already.

Happy Birthday Ella! You are a wonderful gift from God, with a great big heart for others. May your love for Jesus and your "neighbors" always shine brightly. We love you so very much!

(4 months old)

The garbage man still cometh

2011-10-03T08:12:00.001-07:00

They are still fascinated...

I really like, all this drugs!

2011-09-29T14:05:00.001-07:00

Paige had her second of three cortisone shots in her back today. She isn't quite this groggy when she is done, but she is still fairly entertaining. Maybe next time I should ask them to double her dose and bust out the camera.

Crazy little climbing squirrels

2011-09-25T19:59:00.001-07:00

After the kickball disaster, we signed Levi and Noah up for a football skills class at the Gilbert Rec Center. At the first class, they spotted the rock wall and were itching to try it. So after their second class, I gave them a chance. I figured they would go 10 feet, freak out, and be done.

Noah got about halfway up on his first try before he looked down, realized how high he was, and suddenly he just couldn't go any higher. But after a few tries, he got past the halfway point and made it all the way to the top.

Levi, the crazy little squirrel, went shooting right to the top on his first try. Then without even batting an eye, leapt off the top to be caught by his harness. Then repeated the feat five more times. He said he wanted to do it six times cause he was six years old.

I think they probably climbed for an hour. At only $2.50 each for a day pass, I think we will be headed here again in the future.

A long wait

2011-09-13T06:57:00.000-07:00

One year ago today, on September 13th, we saw the face of our daughter for the very first time. It was an amazing moment when I saw her picture and knew that she was to be ours and we were to be hers. Oh what a good and glorious day when we first laid eyes on our Tufah.

Thank you God for the road that was laid before us, even as bumpy as it may have felt. Thank you for the amazing gift you have given us in Sophie Joy Tufah. Thank you God that she is home at last, right where we knew she belonged, the moment we first laid eyes on her.

One, too, fwee... bwast-owff!

2011-09-09T22:08:00.000-07:00

Pweepaiwing my jet pwane..

My hat? Check!

Eawphones? Check!

Kitchen aipwon? Check!

Weady to go!

Dad, I'm a jet pwane man!

And downt fowget my stinky mittens!

We tried string last weekend

2011-09-09T21:56:00.000-07:00

After quite a bit of convincing, I managed to convince him to let me tie a string on it.

It kept falling off. On about the 10th attempt, I finally got a nice tight knot in it. He refused to pull on it. Then he said he wanted it off. Of course, it wouldn't come off then.

I had to cut the string with my Leatherman, leaving being the loop around his tooth (but don't tell him that... he thought it was all gone.)

Then yesterday, driving to school, I looked back at him belting out the chorus of Hot Rod Mercury (such a great song...) and lo and behold, what did I notice missing?

He doesn't have the foggiest clue when or where it came out.

Crazy kid...

FroYoDisco

2011-09-09T21:41:00.001-07:00

The local frozen yogurt joint wasn't aware of what they were creating by playing disco. Everyone in the joint was cracking up...

This talent clearly skips a generation, directly from paternal grandmother to grandchild.

All ready for tennis lessons!

2011-09-05T13:39:00.000-07:00

Four months home

2011-09-01T21:46:00.000-07:00

Hard to believe that a mere four months ago, on May 1st, we landed in Sky Harbor Airport with Sophie in our arms. What a thrilling moment to step off the plane and know that we were home and it was all finished. She is ours forever, and we are so thankful.

Since coming home Sophie has celebrated her birthday, learned to walk, sprouted 6 teeth, has grown two inches taller, gained five pounds, begun using English words (momma, dada, Ella, hi, bye-bye, up, no, mine, baby, nana (banana), uh-o, woof woof, quack quack, set - go), uses sign language to say: more, all done, bath, thank you, eat, milk, and drink, has become a much happier child all around, has traveled to Denver, Michigan, and Rocky Point, Mexico, loves to snuggle, gives big pucker lip kisses, has the worlds greatest giggle, learned how to remove her helmet without undoing the Velcro, learned how to undo her diaper by undoing the Velcro, loves anything water related, has had lactose (milk) and sucrose (sugar) removed from her diet, has been introduced to Cheetos thanks to her brothers, is now a happy stroller rider and is no longer allowed to be a mommy rider, will now happily walk bare foot in grass, has grown very fond of her buddy Luke, discovered the joy of putting her hands in the toilet at every opportunity, has eaten the tops off of several crayons, discovered her nose hole and anyone else's that will hold her close enough to reach, loves to play with baby dolls, feed them bottles, and pat them on the back, has learned that mommy does not like pinching, has a great love for phones and remotes, still sucks her thumb to go to sleep and has to hold a blankie as well, knows the Mexican hat dance and which way the ladies ride, loves to dance and clap to music, throws her sippy cup off her tray at any opportunity, has learned to feed her buddy Banjo the rest of her meal when she has finished, takes one 3 hr nap a day, has grown more curls in the back but is still lacking in the front, loves belly buttons and will lift other's shirts to find them, greets me with a "hi!" after each nap, and has found her way even deeper into all of our hearts.

Oh how we love our Sophie Joy Tufah, and are so blessed to have her as our child. It has been a busy, crazy, exhausting four months home. Sophie has come so far in understanding what it means to be in a family. What love looks like from a well meaning six year old brother's ~~tackle~~ hug. How to show love through kisses and snuggles. What discipline means, and how to react. There used to be so much crying for every. little. thing. Now, I can redirect, close a cupboard, or say no with out the full body flail, tears, snot, and sobs. Now, if you take away an iPhone that she swiped off the night stand, you might still get the flail, tears, snot, and sobs. The girl really likes her technology :).

We would do it all again to have the privilege of having Sophie in our home. The dreaded paper work, the excruciating wait, the travel, the bulging disks in my back, every last detail we would do again, in a heart beat, for the joy of being her family. God is so good!

Hooray for four months of being a family of seven!

Check out these melons!

2011-08-30T22:38:00.000-07:00

The watermelon vine is shrinking, and one of them split open on the ground. We have no idea how you tell if they are ripe or not, so we picked them all.

Not sure what on earth a family that doesn't even really like watermelon is going to do with a fridge full of them. I guess we give them away, and then wait to see if we get reports back of tasty melons or rotten ones.

Apparently we need to sign them up for organized sports

2011-08-29T20:27:00.000-07:00

So the kids wanted to go play kickball at the park. Good family bonding time and all with dad.

Noah was convinced there were five bases. "THERE ARE FIVE BASES DAD!!!!" he screamed, and then flopped around on the ground. He wasn't convinced until two neighborhood boys came by and told him there were indeed only four bases. And then they asked if they could play.

Those poor, poor, poor boys. They had no idea what they were asking.

Once the number of bases was decided, we put some rocks down to mark each one. The kids were ballistic that they couldn't see the rocks. So me and the neighborhood boys ended up marking them with our shoes and playing barefoot.

Ella kicked the ball, and I made the mistake of catching it. "I'm ooooouuuutttttt?!?!?!?!?!?" she wailed, and collapsed in a heap. Yup, that's what happens when someone catches your kick.

Levi was up. One of the neighborhood kids tagged him. He collapsed in a pile of tears as well.

Ella had now recovered and was fielding. "What do I do!?!? I don't know what to do?!?!?" she balled. I told her to get the ball and tag someone. I think her brain was so shut down she couldn't process it.

Then it was her turn to run again. She had no idea what to do. I told her to run to the first base and stop. Then when Levi kicked behind her, she just sat on first base as he ran up to her. So I told her next time to run to second base. So next time she ran to second, and kept going until she got tagged, and them protested that she had only done what I told her to do.

Levi got nearly his entire team out by passing them all running around all the bases.

Luke was there too, but spent the whole game standing there whimpering after he got out on his first kick.

Levi and Noah ended up walking home in a huff while I picked up our rock bases and put my shoes back on. Ella walked home, but refused to be on the same side of the street as me.

Two and one third innings of pure family happiness, I tell you.

Cousin Andrew and Grant.... help...

Thems some mighty fine neigbours ya got thar!

2011-08-29T19:59:00.000-07:00

I was up at 2:30 AM on Saturday night (don't ask) and the house across the back wall from us, which we thought was empty, was having quite the party.

Yup, that is the neighbors doing keg stands on their back porch. Sorry for the low quality pic. It's not easy when you are trying to hide any lights on the camera so as to not give away your position.

I'm not exactly sure who these kids were. We thought the house was empty. The pool has been drained for months. We only rarely see anyone there, which we figured was a bank person or realtor or something. Not sure if a bunch of teenagers broke in, held a party, and left... or what happened.

Sunday afternoon sniper

2011-08-21T21:05:00.000-07:00

I started out with Noah, but after a few shots he got bored. Levi however really got into it.

Let's not get crazy though. It is still summer in Arizona, and there is no sense sweating to death if you don't have to. This is what doggie doors were invented for, right?

Levi was thrilled every time he nailed the little meatal orange pig in the trap, screaming "I got it! I'm bringing home dinner!" He is actually a pretty good shot too. He did tell me though... "Dad, I don't want to be an Army man cause I still want to have my own donut shop." Running a donut shop is his current goal for when he grows up. He's even got Noah working there with him now.

I never met Paige's grandpa before he died, but I know it would bring his heart joy that his great-grandson is sprawled out on his Cambell's Soup blanket, sending lead downrange through a doggie door in the heat of summer.

We have no idea how he did this

2011-08-21T20:48:00.001-07:00

We had to pull the van over and disconnect the seatbelt in order to get him out, because his foot was falling asleep. I'm still not entirely sure how he got that seatbelt wrapped in six different directions all while in his seat...

Together for Adoption

2011-08-15T00:12:00.001-07:00

We just got our tickets for this conference, which happens to be at our church this year. If you are going, let us know!

And a re-post of this video... just because this post felt like it needed more...

The City of Addis - A short documentary from Session 7 Media on Vimeo.

And then there was one?

2011-08-14T23:43:00.000-07:00

I've posted a link to a similar article before, but this one is making the rounds right now. Even though I knew this existed, it still strikes me as hard to believe.

"What is it about terminating half a twin pregnancy that seems more controversial than reducing triplets to twins or aborting a single fetus? After all, the math’s the same either way: one fewer fetus. Perhaps it’s because twin reduction (unlike abortion) involves selecting one fetus over another, when either one is equally wanted. Perhaps it’s our culture’s idealized notion of twins as lifelong soul mates, two halves of one whole. Or perhaps it’s because the desire for more choices conflicts with our discomfort about meddling with ever more aspects of reproduction."

Maybe it is one of those reasons. Or maybe, just maybe, it is because you are killing your own child, and the one who survives is a constant vivid reminder of what you did.

Go to the New York Times, and read all the ways that people will justify killing their own children, even those they put so much effort, time, and money into conceiving.

And then pray for the country that would allow this to happen, and call it a "woman's right to choose."

The big kids

2011-08-11T20:47:00.009-07:00

The "big" kids started school yesterday. This is the first year all three of them are at the same school.

Paige managed to pinch a nerve or something in her back, which has now moved down to her leg. On Tuesday we were at the doctor getting a huge painkiller shot, muscle relaxants, and steroids. She was still flat on her back on Wednesday, so first day of school duties fell to me.

They all made it into class without tears or meltdowns (not always a given with Levi and Noah.) Ella ran back out from her classroom to give me one last kiss, looking almost teary eyed.

That night when I was tucking them in bed she confessed to me...

"Dad, when I ran back out to give you another kiss this morning, it was because I was a little nervous of second grade and kind of felt like crying."

You and me both kiddo. Having daughters has crushed any illusions I might have had about being a tough guy.

Today on the way home from work, I got the report of the second day of school from Paige. Roughly paraphrased...

Ella: "Today, on the second day, somebody already lost a star! It was a boy... cause they are always naughtier." (Their school has a system where you lose stars for bad behavior. Ella didn't lose a single star in first grade, being stereotypical the perfectionist oldest child, and would probably completely break down if she did.)

Paige tried to defend the reputation of squirrel-y little boys everywhere, when our own little mischief maker(s) piped up...

Levi: "I lost a star today too... but it didn't really bother me."

Paige: "Levi! What for?"

Levi: "Talking too loud."

Noah: "I lost a star too Mom."

Paige: "Noah! For what?"

Noah: "Talking to Landon" (his buddy from kindergarten)

We tried to warn their teacher, who also had Ella last year, that the genetics worked out a weeeee bit differently the second time around. I even told Landon's mom on the first day that I gave the Noah/Landon seating arrangement about a week before it is rearranged.

I hope they all survive the next year (or twelve.)

The Dutch is strong with this one

2011-08-11T01:02:00.000-07:00

We had grand visions of decorating Sophie's headgear. Had a vehicle wrap place that said they would do it, and then backed out. Went to a tattoo parlour in Michgan, but Paige thought tattoos would look too angry. Then we struck upon a brilliant idea.

Dutch heritage + favorite coffee place + free pink sticker = bling for the helmet!

And just like a sweet mullet, it's business in the front and party in the back!

(Paige made me take the back one off. She's still a Dutch princess though.)

Grab bag

2011-08-11T00:45:00.000-07:00

I went to lunch the other day with a guy from work, and we headed to this little Indian food dive. It's half restaurant, half grocery store. Wandering through the grocery store, I saw this, and got very excited for a moment. Then I read a little closer...

Sitting on the couch the other night, scratched my head, and noticed that it felt a little thicker around the sides than it did on the top. Hmmmmm, camera phone in my pocket... let's see what's going on up there.... ohhhhhhh... ignorance really was bliss. Guess it's officially time for the permanent buzz cut. I almost considered completely shaving it, but I might have to wait until the tan lines even out (30 more years or so.)

While we were in Michigan, the watermelon plant grew this monster.

Unfortunately, the little hole in the side dripping water was not a good sign. Ewwwwww.

Finally, after a summer of slacking, we instituted a new chore chart. A giant thermometer on the bathroom mirror with 30 spaces. Fill them all up, and you get to go out for ice cream with mom or dad.

I told the kids that in addition to the usual morning and bedtime routine, cleaning the playroom would earn a bar for everyone who helped. Keep in mind that most days when I get home from work, the playroom looks like feral pigs have been rooting through the toy bins all day.

Attempts to get them to pick it up are generally greeted with howls of protest.

They claim they don't know what to pick up. Really? I can't even see the floor where you are standing, but you can't spot anything to pick up?

The next excuse is that they don't know where things go. Really? You seem to be able to find the toys just fine and take them out, so do that in reverse.

Tonight, after describing the chore chart and the play room cleaning scheme, Ella started asking questions...

"So can we pick it up before you get home and earn a bar?" They are volunteering? Ummmmm, sure, more bars!!!

"What if we pick it up more than once a day?" Are you kidding me? More bars!!!

"Can we pick up other things to get bars? Like other rooms?" More clean rooms? More bars!!!

Somewhere in the midst of all the questions, I saw all three of them start exchanging glances and their eyes started getting bigger. And then they all disappeared from the bathroom in a storm of giggles. I peeked around the corner to see three little feral pigs racing around the playroom actually finding things to pick up and finding where they go.

Greedy little capitalists!

At this level of motivation, they will have filled all 30 bars in a few days by continually cleaning every room in the house, and I will need to increase the ice cream budget.

At least I hope so...

Ahhhhhh, Michigan...

2011-08-11T00:25:00.000-07:00

Paige got back from Michigan last week. I am just now getting around to going through the pictures. Oddly, I found quite a few of this variety...

Michigan... land of freedom....

Livin' the dream

2011-08-11T00:20:00.002-07:00

Big critters

2011-07-31T02:01:00.000-07:00

I was burning a bunch of photos to a CD tonight for some fellow adoptive parents of a girl from Harar, and ran across this video. Figured it would be fun to post it. Hard to believe this was only a few months ago. Feels like eons...

Critters

2011-07-24T01:21:00.000-07:00

Levi caught this one. Well, actually, Levi and I spotted it, Grandpa caught it and stuck it in a Starbucks mug for us to take home.

Grandpa's mustangs.

Spotted this girl munching on the neighbor's flowers.

Headed down into the ravine. Think it was a little humid there?

Missed it by that much.

Not sure if he got this one or not.

How many fwogs awe in thewe?

Climbing out, dirtier, sweatier, and happier than when they started.

Levi, of all our kids, loves critters the most. Kid is in heaven there.

The holy land

2011-07-24T01:11:00.001-07:00

At least that's what Paige calls it.

This year we flew. Cheap Allegiant tickets combined with expensive gas means it was a minor cost difference. It also means a 3 hour flight, instead of a 3 day drive. While I realize that deprives our blog readers of our adventures from the road... we appreciated the quick an uneventful trip.

We arrived at the Meyer homestead without incident.

Our kids love it at Grandma and Grandpa's house. For a bunch of city kids, it's a chance to be one with the great outdoors...

(I didn't encourage this. Well... OK... maybe a little.)

To get some mud between their toes...

To have deliberate contact with nature...

(I actually didn't encourage this. Totally Paige's idea. I just took pictures.)

To experience things that city folk tend to frown upon...

(It was for Grandpa, who was baling hay. Really.)

To hang out with their cousins...

And be buried by them.

We also hung out at the Children's museum.

Our kids love it there. They love being spoiled by their grandparents, staying up way to late, catching critters, hearing Grandpa's stories about ol' Split Ear and Smoky the Pony.

It's like a big giant summer adventure...

Upright and ambulatory

2011-07-22T23:08:00.002-07:00

I've got more pictures from the annual trek to Michigan, but for tonight this is all I am posting...

The most amazing thing, other than Sophie walking?

The whole video was digitally recorded on my phone, edited on the same phone why flying cross country in a jet airliner, and uploaded to the internet shortly after landing.

The irony is that I ran it though an 8 mm app to make it look old timey, but when the 8 mm film was invented by Kodak in 1932, the previous sentence would have been about as comprehensible if a Martian had landed.

Sometimes technology flat out amazes me.

How it really went down.

2011-07-19T18:06:00.003-07:00

We took family pictures tonight with the whole Meyer clan.

There were sixteen people.

Eight of them under the age of eight.

It was 97 degrees.

And 437% relative humidity.

So when I post pictures in a few weeks of the perfect family photo, with the sweat and the tears and the grumpy faces all disappeared by the magic of Photoshop, don't believe the lies...

Lil monsters...

2011-07-10T22:49:00.000-07:00

Click to embigginify...

Ahhhhhh

2011-07-10T12:40:00.001-07:00

The melon wasn't quite ripe

2011-07-10T12:38:00.001-07:00

I guess we should have let it go a while longer. There is one more back there on the vine to try. I am not a huge watermelon fan, but I will say that even the little ripe part was far tastier than a typical store watermelon.

My artistic side

2011-07-06T02:40:00.000-07:00

New decoration in the girls' room. Paige ordered this vinyl tree to put on the wall. I was tasked with installing it, being that Paige claims I have an "artistic side."

I disavow any knowledge of an artistic side. I claim it's not really artistic... it's anal retentive. I had a diagram showing where each and every leaf should go. I followed it exactly. If left to my own devices, I doubt it would have turned out as well.

Also note that Sophie is free standing in the first picture. She is darn near walking. She can get a few steps in, but it is still more of the semi-controlled crash type of walking. But every once in a while, she shows signs of corrective balancing maneuvers. I fully expect that within the next few days, I will have footage of full on sustained bipedal locomotion!

This is why I pay taxes

2011-07-06T02:31:00.000-07:00

After holing up in the house most of the day, taking shelter from the blast furnace outside, we ventured out to the Gilbert Independence Day celebration. We found a perfect spot right on the side of the road and backed up the van. Then walked over to the party at Central Christian Church and procurred some bomb pops. The things melted faster than we could eat them.

Even Sophie enjoyed one, although I am not sure the sugar agreed with her, since the few licks she got all ended coming back up.

The viewing location couldn't have been better. A quarter mile across open field from our spot to the launch location.

The big kids played games in the back of the van. Sophie mostly fussed. Luke dug and dug and dug and dug in the dirt.

The show before the show. The sunset was awesome. But note the brownish "clouds" near the ground.

The haboob soon arrived. Luckily the wind wasn't too bad, just a bunch of dust.

Then the show started.

The kids thought it was awesome. They had a running commentary going the whole time. Levi and Noah especially got into it (horrible quality pic from a video capture.)

Midway through the show, Paige made some comment about our tax dollars going up in smoke. I told her "This is exactly what I pay taxes for. They should just wipe out large chunks got the goverment, and use the money to pay for more fireworks!"

The kids kept waiting for the "great finale." I think they asked "Is it the great finale yet?" about 100 times.

Then after the big show, we had a little tiny one at our house. Being that fireworks are now legal in Gilbert, I couldn't really pass up the opportunity.

Happy birthday, land of the free and home of the brave!

Man they get old quick!

2011-07-03T22:00:00.000-07:00

On Sunday Levi and Noah hit the big 6 years old. Hard to believe.

We surprised them Saturday night with their gifts. I took them on Friday to the bike store, with specific instructions that we were only going to see if they were big enough, and were not going to buy anything. They took a pedal around the back parking lot, exclaimed how awesome the brakes worked, and then said "Can we buy them Dad?!?!!?" They were a wee bit disappointed when I said no and we got back in the car empty handed. Luckily they didn't catch me whisper to the counter guy that I would take two, and to hold them for me until the next morning (which also happened to be their big sale day.)

They look hilarious on these things. We originally got some cheap Walmart bikes, but then I decided to splurge and get them some nice ones, in a bigger frame size that they can grow into a little. They went from looking like giants on their old little tiny bikes to midgets on their big ones. I'll have to get a picture for comparison at some point here.

Equal performance, which pleases their father. Coordinating colors, which pleases their mother.

The next morning for their actual birthday we got our Dutch on. First it was Denny's for a free breakfast...

Then Krispy Kreme for twenty four free puffy little pieces of heaven...

Then Joe's BBQ to fill in the bottom half of the food pyramid (plus some lemon cake)...

An aside: How can you not love a place that still sells these? I surprised some busybody hasn't outlawed them already...

Then to Liberty Market for some free red velvet cake, a giant cinnamon roll, a macchiato, two waters, and the opportunity for the boys to appropriately use the line "Hit me again barkeep!" (She thought it was hilarious.)

Next year we will need to go for the Joe trifecta and hit the Farm Grill as well.

Then we headed over to Grandma's with all our free goodies for the birthday celebration. First was a party at Jambo, some indoor playland place that they kept seeing on PBS, and were dying to go to. Forgot the camera at my mom's, so all you get are lousy cell phone pictures.

They are the blurs in the middle.

I made sure all the children were in compliance with caution #4. I am sure that is a real issue with their younger clientele.

I wonder if the forks and knives feel inferior...

Then off to Grandma's for treats and presents.

"Free" makes it taste soooo much better...

Somehow I caught them looking less than thrilled with their birthday treats.

Happy birthday Levi and Noah!

I think most kids hate this. Not her though...

2011-07-01T19:57:00.000-07:00

We are thinking that maybe bath time at her former home was a little less refined, and a little more efficient, than around here. Cause she absolutely loves this, and asks for more...

Ok... that's enough Dad.

Think it was a hectic day around the house?

2011-06-29T01:12:00.003-07:00

Or maybe a hectic week? Got this series of texts from the wife today...

I was dying laughing...

The melon is getting larger and more roundy

2011-06-29T01:06:00.000-07:00

Sophie went in for her one week DOC band checkup. According to the measurements, her head is already getting more roundy. She was, however, very displeased that I plopped her down in the grass during her one hour of helmet free time today to get a picture of that roundier little melon.

Or did you think the post was going to be about this melon? It's getting more roundy too...

The full sleeve is probably next

2011-06-29T00:54:00.001-07:00

Noah figured that if one Curious George tattoo on your arm is fun, applying a whole sheet of Curious George tattoos across your belly must be fantastic! He was particularly amused that the birthday cake covered up his belly button.

Strap in!

2011-06-22T01:47:00.000-07:00

Monday was the big day for Sophie's DOC Band. We went in to have it "installed." Really, it was to do all the test fitting, instruct us how to clean and care for it, and then send us home.

Last few pictures pre-helmet, practicing her walking around the doc's office.

An aside: This kid has the best facial expressions. She is always cracking us up with her funny faces. Awesome.

Helmet goes on for the first time. Sophie is clearly not pleased.

But it turns out to be not so bad.

"Hey, look, I've got a crash helmet!"

The helmet was off, then on, then off, then on. They kept making little tweaks to the fit, then come back to give it a try. Pretty soon she figured out the system, and knew what would happen when they walked back in with it.

Then her mean ol' dad made fun of her.

She is doing pretty well so far. A few spots remain red after we take off the helmet for an hour, which we were told would likely mean another quick visit for some more adjustment. We will see if that happens tomorrow. Otherwise, she seems to be pretty much ignoring the thing. I think it actually bothers her mother more than it does her. But hey... you want a round headed kid, this is the only way to get one.

After tomorrow, Sophie has to wear it 23 hours a day for 15 weeks. The timing of which is rather fortuitous, since our newly sprouted watermelon will take roughly 15 weeks to mature. Perhaps we should consider making one of these? Just as a comparison, of course.

---------------------------

An anecdote from our first visit for the DOC band consultation, which I neglected to relay.

So we are in the room and the physical therapist / doc is going over Sophie's measurements and explaining the benefits of the DOC band. I went into this visit somewhat skeptical that she really even needed one (are you surprised?) and expecting that they would have quite the pitch as to the benefits of a round head. Sure enough, they did, rating Sophie as a severe and then listing all the possible things that this DOC band would solve. One of which being that a bicycle helmet might not fit properly someday and therefore would not adequately protect her head in the event of a crash.

I think Paige could literally hear the muscles in my eyes straining to prevent them from involuntarily rolling.

At this point, I need to explain a little background. I often reference the fact that while Levi and Noah's... uhhhhhh... persistent personalities may cause us great grief as parents attempting to navigate them through childhood, such persistence will be a valuable asset later in life. Especially in their careers as Marines. Or Navy Seals. Or Green Berets. Really, I'd be OK with any of those. They just need to suppress it long enough to survive boot camp. And at this point in the conversation, Paige always insists that I am not, I repeat not sending her little babies off to war.

Back to the doctors office. Lady explaining bicycle helmets, blah, blah, blah. Jason's eyes beginning to roll. Paige sensing impending snarky comment from her husband lacking social skills.

So she attempted to turn the conversation toward a helmet I might be concerned about fitting...

"Or her Air Force helmet!" says Paige.

Ack! Cough cough.... sputter... wheeze. I get grief all the time for wanting my boys to serve their country, and then she goes and plops my 1 year old daughter into a fighter jet cockpit?!?!? I'm still old fashioned enough to believe that if there is fighting to be done, it is the men who should be doing it. Chivalry and such. And now my wife has my daughter off fighting the war, while the boys sit home.

The Air Force helmet reasoning was less than convincing. I just want a kid with a pretty shaped head...

Well, lookee there. A watermelon!

2011-06-22T00:59:00.001-07:00

When we planted our garden, one of the items was watermelon. Even though no one in our family really even likes watermelon that much. They took a while to sprout, but then they went absolutely nuts. The vines have crawled out of the box and formed a carpet roughly ten feet long across our gravel.

You would think that for all that activity, we would have a bumper crop of watermelons. And you would be wrong.

Paige spotted the first one a few days ago.

Good thing we aren't big watermelon fans, cause it doesn't look like there will be much to go around...

Eaten alive

2011-06-22T00:54:00.001-07:00

The day after we got back from our Mexico trip, it was apparent we had a hitchhiker. Luke woke up the next morning covered in bites. Face, arms, legs, back. All covered in big red itchy bites.

He was not a happy camper. Paige washed all his sheets and that seems to have fixed the problem. Whatever it was must have stowed away in his blanket.

We actually ended up taking him to the doctor, because a day later they were still there, and a few had started to turn into large bruises. Doc said it was just bug bites but no sign of any permanent damage.

Clearly an unpleasant experience. Although I don't think it was quite as unpleasant as Luke's facial expression would lead you to believe.

I laughed until it hurt

2011-06-14T07:27:00.000-07:00

If you know my buddy Jonathan, head over to his blog to watch him run from a giant ball of flame in totally inappropriate footwear. Heck, even if you don't know him, it is still funny!

I watched this multiple time last night, until my sides ached from laughing so hard. My wife just stared at me in wonder, failing to understand why watching my friend scamper from a giant flaming ball was quite so funny. And I'm not sure I could really answer her, other than that it reminds me of being 12, and all balls of flame we scampered from back then.

If anyone was wondering what to get me for Father's Day

2011-06-12T12:48:00.000-07:00

Grandpa's old pipe? Seriously awesome. I'd call it Jim Vedders old pipe, but still.

Coolest thing I've heard of since booger flavored jelly beans.

Interview with Luke

2011-06-09T06:33:00.000-07:00

You would think, from this interview, that swimming lessons at Miss Molly's house were simply awesome. It isn't until two minutes in that he admits that he "cwied cause I fought I would sink." Paige told me that in reality, he spent the entire swim lesson wailing for Mom to get him out, cause he was going to sink to the bottom. Miss Molly had a hard time not laughing at the little drama king.

Then I interviewed Sophie about the fact that she has moved out of our bedroom and into the girls room, her newest English language skills, and the fact that her mean ol' Dad won't let her play with his electronics.

Medical pictionary

2011-06-08T22:26:00.000-07:00

When we got back from Ethiopia and took Sophie for her first medical checks, we were told it looked like she had giardia. Or as my friend at work, who had it once as a kid, calls it...

Beaver fever! Ha!

So we gave her medication and her symptoms seemed to be getting better, but not always. After fiddling around with what we fed her, we started to suspect she was lactose intolerant. That can apparently be caused by beaver fever, but I guess lactose intolerance is fairly common amoung Ethiopians, for whatever reason. So after cutting out anything dairy, we finally were getting a lot more of this...

in these...

Today, Paige decided to test the theory and give her a yogurt...

The sweet smell being the confirmation of the theory, not the effects. So yeah... lactose intolerance. Poor kid... missing out on heaven in a cup.

And in other related news, Levi and Noah have been working their way through a stomach bug the last two days. Their life pretty much consists of this...

And then repeat again, ten minutes later. Poor little sunken eyed kids...

Post in which our kid looks like something from a horror movie

2011-06-07T00:23:00.000-07:00

That's her in the middle, with the creepy stocking over her head, screaming.

We decided to get Sophie a DOC Band. On our first trip to Ethiopia, we immediately noticed she had a pretty significant flat spot on the back of her head. When we picked her up on the second trip, it looked like it might have gotten somewhat better, but was definitely still there. Especially when you get her head wet and hair slicked down. Our pediatrician checked it out and said she didn't think anythin was required. We went for a consultation anyways at Cranial Technologies, and they recommended a band (surprise, surprise... since they sell them.) I personally think they oversold just how severe Sophie's head is, but again, they are in the business of selling expensive headgear.

We debated the appropriateness of dropping a small fortune just to have a kid with a round head. After all, only 4 weeks earlier she was in a place where people die from lack of a few dollars worth of medicine... and we are going to spend thousands on a well formed head? Seemed... inappropriate. But, she isn't growing up in Ethiopia. She is growing up in 'Merica, where having a big flat spot on the back of your head might be just one more thing to be singled out for. And we figured she will have her hands full enough in that department.

So we decided on a round headed baby. Today was the appointment to measure her head for the band. Her engineer dad got all geeked out about the camera system that takes a bunch of simulaneous photos and converts them into a solid 3D model. I asked if they could give me CAD geometry so I could make a prototype Sophie at work. She said they couldn't do it... but I wasn't the first to ask.

The money shot. Flat spot is the back right side of her head. Plagiocephaly is the technical term.

In 2 weeks, we go back to have her custom band fit to her head. Then the poor kid has to spend the next 15 weeks of summer in the thing. Ughhhh. She will thank us when she is 16 though. Hopefully.

And Paige already found a local place that will do a custom wrap for free. So the only key decision that remains is...

The pink camo skull and crossbones motif?

Or the always classy A-Team theme?

Or something else? (since I already know Paige will veto both of those.)

Farewell Rocky Point

2011-06-06T23:26:00.000-07:00

Good thing they have on life jackets

2011-06-06T23:25:00.000-07:00

Cause these two don't have a whole lot of fear...

The other kids enjoyed the beach too, but in different ways. Luke revelled in the biggest sandbox he has ever seen.

And did a little bit of "swimming."

Ella got all decked out in the life jacket, but then was too freaked to go in the water. Might have had something to do with everyone telling her to shuffle her feet. "Why?" she would ask?

"Uhhhhhh, might be stingrays. But probably not right here. But you should shuffle. Just in case."

Pretty much killed any desire she had to go splashing in the stingray infested shallows.

Sophie was content just to splash and eat sand and salt water.

Congratulations Matt and Janee

2011-06-06T23:14:00.001-07:00

My cousin Janee choose Rocky Point to finally get married to Matt.

Luke paid close attention to the ceremony.

Just cause you got to wear a white dress, don't go thinking that means I am going to let this happen to you anytime soon!

Levi and Noah only managed to sit still through the ceremony because they were promised iPhone games afterwards for good behavior.

Wedding pictures were taken...

Ack. How long will it be before I am giving her away? Time to clean the shotguns...

Making the stink-face...

The wedding pictures continued...

Dinner was served right on the porch, overlooking the beach.

Levi and Noah defeated many enemies in Infinity Blade, and as a result were very well ~~distracted~~ behaved the entire evening.

After dark, everyone released a bunch of "wish lanterns" which was pretty cool.

Even managed not to burn down Rocky Point in the process.

Congratulations Matt and Janee!

Our friends, the sea creatures

2011-06-06T23:04:00.000-07:00

No trip to Rocky Point is complete without a visit to the local version of Sea World. Only smaller, smellier, hotter, and somewhat less concerned about the well being of the animals.

But hey, after several years, this appears to be the same sea lion!

Feeding the sea turtles.

Checking out the "tide pool."

They named every creature they could see. Interestingly, there was "Sucker"

"Crawly"

And best buds "Pinchy" and "Crabby"

At least I know they have a good descriptive vocabulary!

You think that thing is big enough?

2011-06-06T22:57:00.001-07:00

For whatever reason, Rocky Point seems to be where all the Walcott clan males attempt things that probably shouldn't be attempted in a country with a sub-standard medical care system. In the 30 some years we've been going there, I can recall "surfing" on car trailers being towed across the dunes, water balloon launchers at point blank range, stingray hunting close calls, potato guns, and far too many questionable fireworks exploding prematurely.

The last few years it has been a ginormous kitesurfing kite. Cousin Jonathan found a smokin' deal on ebay. Turns out that it appears to have been a good deal because the thing is so huge that it is nearly uncontrollable.

Probably doesn't help that instead of being pulled gracefully across the waves on a kite surfing board (or having a clue what we are doing), we use it to get dragged around the beach like a bunch of grinning morons.

Having missed the last few years, I haven't had a chance to actually see this thing in action, although I've certainly heard about it. It was literally dragging my cousins across the beach, no matter how hard they tried to stop. A jump up, and you go sailing until you come back down again.

Now you'll notice that in the pictures above, my cousins are a bunch of fairly ripped guys. I used to look like that a few short years ago, but sadly have to admit I am past my prime. But while I may not share their toned physique, I figured that as the eldest cousin I had the... ahem... weight of my experience as an advantage.

In other words... too many Chipotle burritos would make me a much more effective anchor.

So after the assurance from Paige that she would wash my clothes if they got a little dirty, I strapped in.

Here I am demonstrating my anchor skills...

And then was promptly body slammed into the beach. Kite went right and started really pulling, I thought it would hit the house, dug in my feet, and BANG. Face first into the sand, feeling like a truck just hit me.

Maybe next year we should get an actual kite surfing board. Just imagine the potential!

In hindsight... I'm kind of glad I didn't see that video prior to Mexico. And that the harness that attaches you to the kit kept popping off of me...

Rocky Point or Bust

2011-06-06T22:10:00.000-07:00

Ahhhhhhh, the annual family trip to Rocky Point. Where each year I wonder how on earth we can possibly require this much stuff for a three day vacation...

Annual vacation, except we haven't made it there for the past two years, due to saving vacation time for the adoption. So this year, last minute, since everything was finally complete, we decided to go.

To catch helpless sea creatures...

Maul helpless cousins...

Throw the biggest rocks we could wrestle into the ocean, just to see what they do...

Bask in the glory of a sandbox as far as the eye can see...

Seriously, that much sand and water is Luke's dream come true.

Flout typical rules of ettiquette...

And just have fun.

Ahhhhhh, Rocky Point.

It's really more about protecting them from themselves

2011-05-31T01:29:00.000-07:00

Prtoecting them from crashing into each other.

From the full speed blind charges into me.

From falling headlong from their perch on my back.

From the embarassment this picture will cause them someday in their wedding video childhood picture montage.

And protecting their baby sister from flying gazoombas.

And probably a little bit of protecting her from dad.

Either I am making funny faces at Sophie... or someone stepped on my sensitve bits. It's all about protecting those as well.

Think she will figure out that she didn't get into this family exactly the same way the rest of us did? I'll try to protect her from anyone who wants to make an issue of that too...

All creachers and mamles ulowed

2011-05-31T01:09:00.000-07:00

At the A,B,C Orfunige and the Elfebet Orfanige.

I supposed it's better than their usual stuffed animal games where every animal dies, and then its mother and father are sad. But we might have to curtail the orfunige games when Sophie gets a little older...

They made it

2011-05-31T01:01:00.000-07:00

Their first day of Kindergarten...

To their last.

Hey look! A roly-poly!!!

Here come the graduates.

I won't bore you with home videos of their thrilling songs and recitations for graduation. We recorded all of Ella's, and I don't know that we've ever gone back to watch it. So I am guessing you don't want to see it. Needless to say, they were all adorable, and ours were surprisingly well behaved. But heck... keeping their hands out of inappropriate places for the whole program probably would have met our exectations, so actually singing along was a bonus. Especially given that they both had epic meltdowns on the ride to school, just because they couldn't take their V-smile along. Wouldn't be a complete last day of school without a meltdown!

Afterwords, they had to pose with their kindergarten crush, Chloe. You've also got to say her name with a dreamy drawn out kindergarten crush voice... Chloooooooeeeee...

And of course, their fantastic teachers, Mrs. Marquard and Miss Nikki. I'm not sure how you actually got them to (mostly) behave and sit still long enough to learn something, but somehow you did. Thanks again for being awesome teachers. Maybe Luke will wander his way through there in a few years, just to uphold the tradition.

They will also miss Wall-e, their automatic trash can.

Mrs. Marquard informed me one day that the state had given the school some grant money. I believe it was money from some tobacco tax that I am sure I voted against. The money for their class was specified for a trash can. Something about having a cleaner and more sanitary classroom environment.

Uhhhhh huh. I've got two boys that I am constantly yelling "HANDS OUT OF YOUR PANTS!!!" at.

In public.

A trash can that opens itself isn't even going to put a dent in the sanitary condition of their hands, much less anything else in that classroom they touched (Sorry Marquard and Nikki. We tried. We really did.)

Mrs. Marquard said that they don't get any state funding, so this was fairly unusual. I clarified for her that not getting state funding is actually a selling point for me, not a downside.

Ahhhhh, government!

Now it's on to first grade, where Mrs. Renaud has been warned that the next two won't likely be quite as... compliant... as their older sister.

The way-sin kind

2011-05-31T00:30:00.000-07:00

In college, we drank whole milk. Like... straight from the cows. One roomate worked at the local dairies, the other lived on one. Six college guys can go through a ton of milk, so access to free milk was awesome.

Of course, after several years of that, I now have an ingrained habit of shaking the milk prior to pouring, just to make sure nothing has settled.

Even though we drink almost only skim (hardly qualifies as milk.)

But somehow a gallon 2% made it into the house. Heaven in a cup, is what I call it. So I pulled it out and gave it a shake.

And saw brown bits go swirling by.

Hmmmm. Expiration date is still good.

Sniff. Doesn't smell rotten.

Taste. Nothing wrong there.

Turns to children...

"Did anyone put something in the milk jug?"

"I did!" pipes the youngest boy, with obvious pride in his handiwork.

"What?"

"Ce-weal"

"What kind?"

"The way-sin kind!"

Hmmmm. You are supposed to do that the other way around boy.

Still tasted like heaven in a cup though. Even with little brown bits.

I guess being able to READ isn't a job requirement for this company

2011-05-31T00:19:00.000-07:00

Really?

REALLY?

Needless to say, we won't be hiring Scorpion Sweepers to do a "behavioral study" of the "active scorpions" in our backyard. Sounds like a scam to me anyways.

OK, just visited their website. "Scorpion Sweepers uses a completely natural and safe extraction method, removing each scorpion one by one from your property. Our chemical free process is completely safe."

FOR $65 A SWEEP!?!? Are you kidding me? We bought a $20 UV flashlight at Ace Hardware. That, and a stick, and I can "sweep" the backyard for free.

On the plus side, Noah may have a golden opportunity here to fund his text message habit. Assuming he can find anyone gullible enough to pay $65 for someone to smash scorpions.

Perhaps it was a bad idea to ever explain to him the concept of a text message

2011-05-30T23:33:00.000-07:00

I worked today, so that I could take a day off later this week. Since no one was in the office, it means I actually got 8 hours worth of work done today, instead of approximately 2.5 (if I am lucky.)

As I was leaving, one of the kids started texting me. Yes, they've all discovered texting.

Uh huh, sure mom "dose." I got home and hunted down the culprit, who was easy to spot by the you-know-what eating grin on his face.

Me: "Noah, did mom know you had her phone?"

Noah: "Yes."

Paige: "How did you know he had my phone?"

Me: "Cause he texted me about 20 times."

Paige: "Noah, I thought you were texting Aunt Lindsey? How did you text dad?!?!?"

Noah: "Well, I just went back to messages and saw Jason Addink so I picked him."

Uhhhhhhhhh oh. If he figured out how to change who he is texting...

{goes upstairs to retrieve the phone and check}

Yeah, sorry about that Grandma Meyer, Denese, Janna, Krystal, Gina, Ruth, Sabrina, Grandma Addink, Angie, and Mrs. Marquard. Paige wasn't just texting you random greetings. That was our chief mischief maker. Kid managed to fire off multiple texts to 12 people in under 7 minutes. And he is 5. This is not a good trend...

Last waterslide before the rapture

2011-05-22T11:38:00.001-07:00

And the first waterslide of the summer season. We set the waterslide up in the front yard yesterday afternoon. One of the neighbor girls from our home group joined us as well.

We bought this three years ago when Levi and Noah were Luke's age. Best money we ever spent on a birthday present.

Shhhhhh, don't tell his mother. It was this, or let a dripping wet kid in on the wood floors to use the proper facilities. I chose to preserve the wood floors rather than his dignity.

Ella still hasn't outgrown the fun.

Karter was a little daredevil.

Noah, with no fear.

Levi apparently took a good tumble off the side of the slide while I wasn't watching them. He spent the rest of the time cautiously going down with a tight grip on the side rail. Must of been a good tumble if it slowed Levi down.

Karter trying to warm up her little buddy Luke.

And since I am posting this on Sunday, we are obviously all still here, and will get to enjoy another summer of watersliding...

Sophie's First Birthday

2011-05-22T11:13:00.001-07:00

What to the EVBC Commons and Sponge Bob have in common?

I can't think of anything really. Except Sophie's birthday party / open house. We rented the Commons so that people could come meet her, and so we wouldn't have 50 some people in our house.

Paige's friend from church made us an awesome cake.

We brought the birthday girl.

Who couldn't wait to dig in.

And then did.

Of course, we found out a few days later that she has Giardia. Which can make digestion of sugar difficult. Which explains why the entire piece of cake she ate didn't stay down for long. She enjoyed it though!

So where does Sponge Bob play into all this? Paige rented a giant bounce house for the older kids to play in. Apparently someone offered her a deal on a bounce house... significant savings if you chose the bounce house with the weird sponge and his friends. Being a good Dutchwoman, she went with the cheaper one. Even if church seems like an odd place for a giant sponge.

Two other tidbits. We opened all the presents when we got back home. Someone thoughtfully gave us this little toy... which we all found to be nearly as weird as a giant sponge. So you just in case you are reading this, we do sincerely appreciate the gift, as it gave us all a good laugh.

We also got this spinner car toy thing. Levi fairly quickly snatched it and repurposed it. This inventiveness could be very, ummmm, interesting come college.

Thanks to everyboy who came to help us celebrate!

So how is is going?

2011-05-21T21:43:00.002-07:00

The first question everyone asks is how is it going? Followed by how is Sophie adjusting? So here is my summary for all three of you out there wondering.

It's going great.

The first week provided the least amount of sleep as I tried to convince our daughter that day and night were now reversed. She eventually got the hang of it and I am very grateful. I already blogged about her pediatrician visit after three days home. Our pediatrician was very pleased with her overall health and growth. Today we had a follow up appointment and a one year well visit.

So after two weeks of being home Sophie had gained a pound, grown an inch longer, and her head grew another cm. My doctor just chuckled when she saw her growth curve go straight up in two weeks time. She might be a big girl after all, now that she is getting adequate nutrition. Time will tell.

All her medical reports from her blood work came back with good results. Her stool study came back with a diagnosis of giardia, which we already expected. We have been on meds for two full days now and the treatment lasts for five. The goal is for better intestinal health by killing the parasites, but I am here to tell you that today was by far the winner for nonstop blow out diapers! Disgusting! Let's hope we improve over the next three days.

Sleeping is going very well. She takes two naps a day for 2-3 hours each. She goes down with no fussing at all. Wakes up screaming and mommy comes running, so she has me trained well already. She goes down great at bedtime too, but still wakes for that middle of the night feeding she was accustomed to getting at Toukoul. She has skipped it a few times by herself, so I am hoping she will out grow it herself by getting more nutrition in the day and the reassurance that she will never go hungry. For now, when she cries at 2 am she gets a bottle. Thankfully she goes right back to sleep.

She is getting braver in her surroundings and can be found crawling through the house getting into all kids of things that siblings have left lay all over the place. She is still a bit wary of the dog, but every once in a while she will crawl up to Banjo and just touch her. She will pull herself up to play at her musical table, but mostly just crawls. She keeps a close eye on my proximity at all times and while she can be on one side of the room fine one moment, she will panic the next, bursting into tears, until I come and pick her up.

She loves to play with her daddy but does it better if I am not around. If I pass by she will cry and reach for me. She screams loudly and the tears come instantly. A faker at times, but she knows how to make her needs known. I wear her on my back in the Beco often, so that I can accomplish a few simple things around the house, or so my arms are free to hold Luke.

She really is adjusting to all these changes well. I feel so sad when I think that she has only been here two weeks and how foreign it must all feel to her. We are her fourth change of care that we know of in her first year of life. There was her birth mom, the orphanage in Harar, the Toukoul orphanage (who knows how many different care givers there in the course of 9 months) and now home with us.

That is a lot of change in 12 months of living.

The City of Addis

2011-05-18T00:48:00.000-07:00

Thanks to our friends Adam and Sabrina, I ran across this video on their blog. We didn't go to any of these places while we were there... but the sights are the same. The goats, the kids in school uniforms, billions of blue Toyota vans, the crazy haired old men in the streets. Is it weird that I felt like I missed it a little bit when I watched this?

The City of Addis - A short documentary from Session 7 Media on Vimeo.

The video is produced by the same guy who runs the Ethiopian Guest Home. Obviously has a heart for Ethiopia and the people there, and we loved staying at his guest house.

We actually seem to have spent a huge portion of our time there like this. It's the drive from the Toukoul Orphanage to the YGF Guest House on our first trip. Sped up 8X. Don't miss the guy at 29 seconds taking a leak against the wall. Another very common sight in Ethiopia.

33 years old, mother of 5, ages 7 and under

2011-05-17T22:09:00.000-07:00

Last Sunday was Mother's Day and I was still in a fog adjusting to time changes with Sophie and we had house guests. So it was not thee most relaxing Mother's Day, but I think it was by far the best.

Noah threw a terrible fit and missed out on lunch. My mom was/is out of the country so I couldn't talk to her on the phone, and I think Jason ended up leaving his mom a voice mail because he couldn't locate his mom either. My gift from Jason was a doctor bill for pink eye, since our doctor office is now out of network on our new insurance. (long story)

But all in all, it was the best Mother's Day thus far. This year I have five children to be thankful for. This year I am blown away at the blessings God has given me to parent. This year I want to freeze time and just stay right where we are forever. 7,5,5,3, and 1. That is one amazing line up. I would keep it this way if I could.

It is hard to believe that I have been a mom for seven years already. It was the greatest thing ever in my life when I became a mom and Jason and I took on new roles as parents. We were/are so in love with our sweet baby girl and loved being a little family. Ella was our first taste of God's plan for family.

Adding to our family was an easy decision. And while I was in shock at my ultra sound when the tech said there were "two little somethings", my husband shouted out with glee "Yes!". And we instantly had become a family of five. Levi and Noah were wonderful easy going babies, tumultuous toddlers, and are growing up into fun boys who constantly challenge me to live out the fruits of the Spirit. (Specifically patience and self control.)

Luke was the next addition three years later. He was a sweet answer to prayer to a very fear filled pregnancy following a miscarriage. I wasn't sure I could set myself up for pain of losing another child and was terrified the entire nine months. While most people responded with shock that we would be having another baby and that we were crazy for wanting four children, we new this baby was a sweet answer to prayer and a healing for our hearts. God sent the perfect addition to this family in the form of Luke Hendrik.

Perhaps since we had already crossed the societal norm of three children max, we should have been done growing our family. But that was not God's plan for our family and I am so very glad. Around the time that Luke was turning one, Jason and I began to seriously look into international adoption. Now almost a full two years later our Sophie Joy Tufah is home where she belongs.

She has been prayed for, loved, and wanted since before she was ever conceived. Only God could orchestrate her story and ours to become one family from two different sides of the globe. God is so good, and we are so blessed to welcome this child into our family.

I am not Sophie's first mother. There was someone else, whom we will never know, who loved her first. Who gave her life, and then chose another course of life for her. There was another mother who put her child's needs above her own heart and gave Sophie to us. There was another mother who is remembering birthing a beautiful baby girl one year ago and was only able to have her for a very short time. There is another mother with a piece of her heart missing.

If only there was a way to show that mother our hearts. To show her how we are bursting with love for her child. To let her know that we will cherish her forever. To somehow say thank you for the life she created.

God's plan for my family may look different than others, but I wouldn't change a thing. I am the mother of five children, each chosen by God to help refine me, as I humbly try to mother them. Thank you God that this Mother's Day you have entrusted five beautiful children to my care. Please give me the grace to honor you in my parenting.

Help has arrived!

2011-05-13T14:22:00.002-07:00

Paige's sister came out this weekend to meet Sophie and help out Paige for a few days. And by "help" she apparently meant "work on her tan."

Not saying where I got this spy photo from...

See you when I get off work L... ;)

Our tomatoes are spoiled rotten

2011-05-10T22:12:00.000-07:00

Shade umbrellas, for a garden? Apparently so. Our tomato plants were getting cooked in the sun, so they needed a little relief (yes Nate... too much sun in May.) We shall see if this works.

Salsa! The first few tomatoes are starting to turn red. That plus the garlic, onions, cilantro, oregano, and basil in the garden and we should be able to make almost complete salsa from our back yard.

When we first planted the garden, Luke skipped outside the next day looking for carrots. He was disappointed they weren't fully grown in one evening. But he is now plucking and enjoying them.

Sophie, just hanging out in the high chair, looking super cute.

I don't think he really planned out his exit strategy

2011-05-08T00:21:00.001-07:00

Nacho Libre + 300 = Funny

2011-05-07T15:50:00.002-07:00

Maybe just to me though...

He refers to themselves in the third person now

2011-05-07T15:44:00.000-07:00

I picked up all the kids from school yesterday. A few minutes after Ella got in the car, the following conversation ensued.

Noah: Ella, what are you doing?!?!?

Ella: Pick'n my nose.

Dad: Where are you putting them?

Ella: On the seat.

Dad, looking over to see a neat row of boogers attached to the seat: Ella!

Levi, who has no shame in nose picking: Gross!!!!!!

Noah: That's not what "the twins" do with boogers, they eat them! And they are the "stars of the nose pickers"!

That conversation was followed by an in depth debate regarding the appropriate times for winkus tugging, with admissions by both boys regarding inappropriate behavior. But at that point I was laughing too hard to faithfully record the details.

Nearly lost in the shuffle

2011-05-05T20:50:00.000-07:00

The Monday after we left for Ethiopia, Levi visited the bone doc to see if his arm had healed enough for the cast to come off. The doc gave him the OK. Grandma took him, and had specific instructions to take pictures for the blog. Good work Grandma!

That looks like one excited little boy. He was so proud when we got back home that he could make his arm go straight again!

Pictures of Luke that don't look like Winston Churchill

2011-05-05T20:45:00.000-07:00

From his birthday party at Grandma's house when we were in Ethiopia

We are home. An update by the wife, since my husband has gone nutty.

2011-05-05T20:42:00.000-07:00

So it has been a few days home now and I have a few people in particular who keep pestering me about an update. I made Jason take Sophie in for her lab work so my arms are free for a few minutes so I thought I would catch you all up.

I will start at the beginning and you can fast forward to what ever you are interested in.

The flight home:
The flight home was very long as we knew it would be. Sophie and Ella both did very well considering the lack of sleep and disruption of any sleep they were attempting to get. On both flights we were given bulkhead seating with a bassinet, so that was nice. Sophie only spent about two hours in each. The rest of the seven hour and nine hour flights she was climbing up and down me and all over me. But, she did not scream or cry like I feared she may. She did really, really well. She kept busy charming any and every one who would walk by and stop to say hello.

Arriving home:
We finally arrived at our destination a day after travels began. We were greeted by our wonderful family and friends at the airport with balloons, posters, hugs, and well wishes. It was so nice to have those there with us who have walked along beside us in this journey and have showered us in their prayers for months and months on end. Seeing all their smiling faces when we arrived was wonderful.

Settling in:
Other than Sophie still being on ET time, life is going well as a family of seven. Sophie is relaxing more and more each day and will crawl away from me to play with toys on the floor and will even allow Daddy to hold her for short periods of time. She is sleeping next to me in a co-sleeper at night and wakes often to check to see if I am still there. She will crawl into bed with me and snuggle for a bit and then I can shift her back into her co sleeper. If only we can get over the 2 to 4 AM party with mom each night, the days would be so much nicer. I love my Sophie dearly, but I would rather not spend so much one on one time together at that time of the night. She has the option of taking naps during the day to recover from our late night play dates, me, not so much.

Sophie eats like a champ. All baby food, yogurt, cheerios, wagon wheels, puffs, noodles, rice, bread, this girl will chew it up and eat it all. Its like she has been doing it for years! Not to mention the bottles she is inhaling. No trouble at all transitioning to American food and formula.

Doctoring:
We had a new patient check up yesterday to look over her medical files and form a plan of attack for life in America. We have decided to repeat all vaccinations. We are also running a battery of tests (via blood work) to check for all sorts of things that are typically done at newborn screenings. And the joy of stool collection to check for parasites and the like.

Our pediatrician says she does not feel that Sophie should have a doc band. She said if we were a new patient just moved here from Ohio she wouldn't recommend it, nor would she since I am a worried mother of a baby who laid a lot in an orphanage crib. She said the side was "not that flat" and should round out in that area now that she is upright and more mobile.

It was obvious at the time of check out form the orphanage that Sophie had had chicken pox recently. Her medical file indicated that she had them in March. She has lots of scars all over her body that we hope will fade with time and Mederma.

She weighed in at 18.1 lbs., and developmentally was right on track. She mimics our facial cues, crawls, pulls up, picks items up with a two finger pincer grip, self feeds, babbles, claps, waves. The only thing she was lacking was teeth. She only has four right now. But then, there is a range for that too. Our pediatrician would like to see her again in two weeks for her one year well visit and we can go over lab results at that time too. Our doctor was thrilled at her overall well being.

Siblings:
The three big kids really love their new baby sister. They are constantly bringing toys over to her, asking to hold her on their laps, and checking where she is. Luke is still trying to find his place in this new family setup. Sophie has only been home for four days, so it will take time for his little heart and mind to process that he has not been replaced. Mommy's arms are now very busy with someone else and this is a BIG change for my snuggle bug. Wearing Sophie on my back still allows me to hold my 38 lb 3 year old. I tried to talk to Luke about Sophie last night and he informed me that he loved her, but he was crabby because he was not getting enough sleep. You and I both buddy!

Letting it all hang out

2011-05-04T21:59:00.000-07:00

Now that we aren't under the thumb of our adoption agency, and we won't be yelled at and threatened for saying online that we got a referral, this blog is going back public again. At some point in the future I will try to go back through all the posts and tag the adoption related ones for any blog stalkers who run across this blog. I'll probably turn comment approval back on as well, just so I can filter out any riff raff.

Happy birthday little man!

2011-05-02T22:04:00.002-07:00

Hard to believe it's been three years since this little duffer entered the world...

Some birthday Krispy Kreme

Making a "gwass angel" in the front yard.

His present, a new "big boy bike."

Kid hasn't sat in his high chair for a year and a half. But Sophie sits in it, and suddenly he wants to as well. Weeeee bit of jealousy going on around here at losing his spot as the "baby."

Happy birthday little man!

Welcome to 'Merica

2011-05-01T21:54:00.000-07:00

[The following post requires reading it with a redneck hilbilly accent, in the manor of my good buddy Jonathan.]

We 'rived home on Sunday night after 20 some hours on them aero-planes. Back to 'Merica, where we cling to our guns and religion. Land of the free. Home of the brave. Country of abundant bacon!

Land where George Washington slayed the zombie hordes of evil King George!

Land where Abraham Lincoln rode grizzly bears into battle to free the slaves!

Land where Teddy Roosevelt cleared the west of sasquatch to make it safe for civilization!

(I want all three of those posters)

Land where dad flies flags on your first day in 'Merica (at least until that nasty HOA writes him up.)

Land where your brand new brother feeds you all 'Merican food like Cheetos.

Welcome to 'Merica baby girl!

Headed for home

2011-04-30T06:48:00.001-07:00

After all this time. After all the prayers. After all the hoping, wishing, dreaming, praying, crying, and wondering if and when. It's hard to believe we are finally at this point. Hard to believe we are finally headed for the United States with Sophie Joy in our arms!

Pray for safe travels and peace for the newest addition. She should be fine as long as she is in my arms clawing frantically at my neck. But it's going to be a long 24 hours of travel. And did I mention this girl can really cry?

Seriously thee loudest child I have ever had. And instant flowing tears too. So pray for those sitting near us as well.

For those who were interested in meeting us at the airport to celebrate her home-coming we are planning on arriving in Phoenix on Sunday night (May 1) at 7:53 pm. We should be in terminal 2 arriving on United flight 329 from Denver.

Ella can't wait to get back home and have some angel hair pasta! :) She has been a good trooper throughout, but is missing home and eating food she is used to. And I think we are all looking forward to our nice soft beds!

See you "soon"!

The complete Addink party of 7

Addis at night

2011-04-29T12:06:00.001-07:00

The view from our room.

The room also happens to be right under the flightpath of the incoming jets.

Pizza party

2011-04-29T11:57:00.001-07:00

One of our main goals while we were here on this trip was to do something fun for the boys at Kolfe. On our first trip, we didn't have a lot of time there and didn't plan well enough to take them anything. Brilliant of us. We saw enough though, enough to know that on our second trip we were going to go back and find some way to treat all the boys.

Thanks to an unexpected check from some very good friends, and some advice from friends at church who sponsor some of the boys, we had an inkling of a plan. But an inkling was about it. We knew the boys didn't get that much to eat, and what they did wasn't all that nutritious. So we figured we would buy out a fruit stand, or a chicken coop, or something.

The staff at the Ethiopian Guest Home helped us arrange it all. Their first suggestion was that we could buy a few sheep, slaughter them there, and have a big cookout. This idea sounded really cool. But then they called the boys, and it turned out that what they really wanted was pizza.

Where on earth do you get enough pizza for 200+ hungry boys in Addis? The staff called around and found a place that said they could make 150 pizzas. We were amazed. Which was appropriate, because the pizza joint didn't pull it off in time. But we did eventually get a whole bunch of pizza, and some hamburgers as well.

Luckily Ephrem's buddies hadn't beaten him up over lack of pizza when we arrived. Actually, they were just lining up for dinner so the timing was perfect.

The boys each got 1/3 of a pizza. It was almost heartbreaking to watch a bunch of boys try to figure out how to split 8 pieces of pizza 3 ways.

The kid in the middle reminded us of Levi... skinny, squirelly, and smily. He squirmed just when I tried to take a picture though.

They all wanted to pose for pictures.

We also got them a bunch of fruit, hopefully enough for a couple of pieces each.

Ella got no food, but hopefully her eyes opened a little. She just kind of stood there taking it all in, with a death grip on her momma.

She did eventually relax enough to actually let go and smile.

Ephrem and Solomon got their care packages.

And hopefully felt some love from their "mommas."

I'm a hoot!

2011-04-29T11:14:00.001-07:00

Today I headed back to the US Embassy and picked up Sophie's visa and immigration paperwork. Last step... get on a plane and back to US soil.

Sophie, meanwhile, sported one of the many fashionable outfits packed for the trip.