Avast ye scurvy dogs!

A few weeks back we had a combo birthday party for Luke and Sophie.  Pirate themed.


A pirates primary mode of locomotion is a locomotive, right?
 

The birthday kids (and mom.)
 

Luke and his favorite little buddy Karter.
 

Levi and Noah were devestated to learn that they are now a few inches too tall to ride the ferris wheel.  They somehow suckered the minimum wage teenagers running it to let them on for one last ride.
 

 

The decorations.


Birthday cupcakes.
 

Walking the plank.
 

Heading off on the treasure hunt.


Happy birthday Luke and Sophie!

She is pretty much self sufficient now

 

Mmmmmmmm...

I took Sophie out the other night on an impromptu late night daddy date.

Liberty market makes fantastic macchiatos.

 

 

 

Kid loves her coffee.  I got a little bit of it too.

He looks like he is having fun

Random picture from Easter in Tucson.  Noah's first cousins once removed having a little fun with him.

 

Yes, they are twins.

Last week I watched Levi and Noah give their speeches at school.  They had to talk about the difference between 1912 and 2012.  Although they share the exact same genes, that apparently means very little in terms of first grade speeches.

Noah:  Approaches the front of the class, walks immediately to the designated spots, and pauses, looking like one of the somber old guys from a 1912 portrait sitting.  Holds notecards in hand, glances down to refresh his memory, and begins...

"I would not like to live in 1912 instead of 2012."

"If I lived in 1912, I would have to walk to school, even if it was hot or snowing."

"I wouldn't like school in 1912 because I would have to use a feather pen and inkwell."

"And when the fire was on in winter you would have to be in the middle of the room to feel just right."

"I would not like to live in 1912, but I would like to live in 2012."

Then he walks back to his seat trying not to smile.


Levi is up next:  Approaches the front of class.  Wiggling.  Stops about 5 feet short of the designated spot.  After about three rounds of being reminded by his teacher, and hopping towards the spot, he finally makes in there.

The rest of the class is already giggling.

Sets notecards cards down on the desk next to him.

"I would like to live in 1912 because I like sewing and uhhhh...."

Picks up cards from the desk.

"...and maybe I would get to sew mac 'n cheese."

"I would also get to weave."

"And when I had to go to the bathroom, I would get to go to the bathroom in an outhouse."

"I would like to live in 1912."

Even his teacher was laughing.  Along with all his classmates.  And the other parents.  And his parent.

Dinos, stuck Legos, and dancing

Today I took Luke on a Daddy Date.  For whatever reason, the kid isn't my biggest fan lately.  He is attached to Paige like a fly on sh... well, let's just say he is really fond of her.  If she leaves him alone with me, he cries and then hangs out by the window watching for her return.

So today she said we needed to "work on our relationship."

So we went garage saling, found a strange dino hat, some rubber spiders to scare Mom with, and a cinnamon roll the size of his head.

Relationship repaired.  At least until the sugar high wears off...

On Friday, Paige told me that Sophie claimed she put a Lego in her nose.

This afternoon, I was Googling "how to get a Lego out of your kid's nose."  The things you end up researching as a parent... sheesh...

Yup, there is a Lego shoved way up that nostril on the left.

So according to the first few hits I looked at, a suggested and fairly successful method is something like CPR.  Plug the nostril without the Lego, mouth to mouth, and then blow hard.

Sophie was fairly cooperative, sitting their with mouth agape while her brothers and sister cheered me on.  Plug nose, big breath in, apply lips, annnnnd.... blow.

I heard a little squeak of surprise from Sophie.  Then she looked at me like "Dad, that was the weirdest kiss ever!"  And then started giggling.

But no Lego.

So taking the giggles as a good sign that I didn't rupture her lungs, we tried the baby inflation trick a few more times.

Still no Lego.  But she giggled each time.

So then I found the one paper clip in our desk drawer, fashioned it into a small hook, pinned Sophie down on the bed, and snagged it.

Then we sang a few rousing rounds of "Don't put a Lego up your nose!  Cause that's not where a Lego goes!" just to try and reinforce the lesson.

Then that evening it was off to a Daddy-Daughter Dance with the eldest.

My good Dutch CRC upbringing and natural antisocial tendencies leaves me completely unprepared for these type of events.

Ella, however, kept dragging me back out onto the dance floor.  Gonna have to keep a close eye on her in a few more years...

She was worn out by the end of the night, and the little princess said she had fun... even if her Dad can't dance.

Finally done with the paperwork (almost)

Last week we cleared the final legal hurdle in Sophie's adoption, after about 3 years of paperwork.  We re-adopted her.  Sounds weird, but what it really amounts to is tying up the legal loose ends, the ability to get her an Arizona birth certificate, and a legal name change.  They send them home with their first name and the father's first name, so until now her legal name has been Tufah Jason Addink.  I thought it had a nice ring to it, but Paige disagreed.

Here's the picture of us with the judge.



Then we took a lovely family picture of all the kids.

Ugh.  They were horrible for this picture.  No one would still, and by the end we were all grumpy (including Mom and Dad.)

Sophie was also heartbroken when I told her she no longer got to share my name...

 

And tonight we got a letter saying that because of the adoption tax credit, the IRS is "holding your refund until we complete a more thorough review."  So I guess we aren't quite done with the paperwork yet...

348 Days

Last Easter we were getting on a plane for Ethiopia to pick up Sophie.  By the time we picked her up from the orphanage, she was three hundred forty seven days old.  Most of that time spent in an orphange.

This Easter marked her three hundred forty eighth day with us.  She has now been with us longer than she has been away.

How appropriate that this day landed on Easter...

For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now.  And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.   -Romans 8:20-25

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth. -Ephesians 1:3-10

But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!” So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God. -Galatians 4:4-7

Catch Up

So after not blogging squat for a month, you get a quick lightning round post of cell phone pictures.

"I heard this is how all the girls are doing their hair dad!"

Levi put on his swim shirt as pants, because he couldn't find pants.  And he was this skinny before he got sick...

Paige went to South Dakota for her Grandpa's funeral.  Which meant Dad was in charge for the weekend.  Which meant fighting your brother with sticks was totally acceptable.

Sophie, just being adorable (wearing two different outfits, her mother points out.)

Luke and Sophie, spectators to the stick fighting.

Noah and Levi chased the dog around.  Right up until about 1 second after this picture, when Noah thought that Banjo was actually attacking him.

Kind of took the fun out of it...

Luke being a desert bull.

That's odd.  A pair of little boy undies.  In the neighbors grass.  And they only have a little girl.  I wonder where those came from?

Ah ha.  Good thing your mother gets back in a few days...

I got my truck back after several months at the shop.  New roll cage, new seats, new bumpers, new exhaust, bedliner on the whole interior, and a new stereo.  It is like a totally different truck.

A little Saturday yardwork in the front yard.  I saw a few neighbors drive by and giggle.  That's just how we roll around here.

Did some rock climbing at the Gilbert Rec Center

And some nice guy let us borrow some raquetball gear.  The boys were thrilled, since they have been asking to play in there for a long time.

I cut my hair.  And Ella wanted to keep some in a bag.  I have no idea what she has planned for it, but that bag is currently taped up on the wall next to her bed.

While Levi was curled up sick at home, I attempted to get the other kids sick with cinamon rolls the size of their head for breakfast.

And finally, Luke being... Luke.  The child with the nonstop imagination.  Seriously, the kid never stops chattering.  Paige took him to tour a preschool today, and she said the kid... didn't say a word the whole time.  Boy will his teacher be surprised about 3 days into the school year.

There you go... all caught up.

The sickness

Our computer has had the sickness for the past several weeks.  Got some nasty malware on it, and it took forever to clean it off.  Ended up with a new hard drive, and after running endless virus scans I think it is finally clean.

That's my excuse for not having posted in over a month.

And the last five days, Levi has had the sickness as well.  Really weird one though.  He threw up every morning, and every evening.  During the day he said he felt better, and would eat, and then it would all come up that night.  And each day he got weaker and weaker.  Poor kid is already a skinny little whip of a thing, and after five days of little food and lots of spewing, he was one sad little puppy when we finally took him to the doc on Monday.

The doc couldn't find anything major wrong... no appendix, no blockage, just weird flu symptoms.  So they gave us an anti-nausea drug and recommended lots of this...

This morning was his first puke free morning since Thursday.

He felt good enough (and somehow had energy left in his scrawny little body) to play in the park while waiting to pick up Ella from Girl Scouts.

Of course, that depleted all 5 calories he had left in his body, and then he was too tired to climb the hill back to the van.

So he just went to sleep on a park bench like a homeless man after Paige carried him up the hill.

He made it to bed tonight with no more puke.  At 5:30.

Tomorrow he gets to try food again.  Lets hope it stays down this time...