We've been mooned

We are excited to be once again moving (no, not to our new home yet...that's another saga) on the adoptions.  We were cleared with immigration (USCIS) and are now waiting for the agency representative in China to bring our paperwork to the US Consulate in Guangzhou.  Now...our paperwork would have been dropped off already, but you see, there is a "moon festival" in China right now that causes the closure of government entities.  Our paperwork will, Lord willing, be dropped off next week.  Usually we would receive our next important piece of the puzzle in two weeks.  However, since there is yet another holiday the first week of October (it is "National Day" which of course requires that the country shut down for a week), we will be delayed another week.

In the meantime, we are busy still trying to make the 2 minute move to our new house.  Flooring is almost in for the dining room, construction is complete upstairs, but some windows still need to be replaced or fixed.  One of the bathroom also needs to be fixed up (we tore off the wallpaper as it was peeling).  The delay in the adoptions is at least giving us the opportunity to get settled in the house...which we will do....someday.

Okay, I promised an update on LB's jumping.  Not only is he now getting off the ground (though he is the most awkward jumper as he lands on his heels and rocks backward when he lands), but we've got him being Jack be nimble and actually jumping over things.  Believe me, it was no easy task, but we've managed it. 

Here he is jumping over a small pile of things we constructed



We have realized that getting him to do things is completely tied to his attitude.  If he thinks something is too hard, he won't even try it. He whines, complains, and proclaims, "It's too harder for me! I can't do it!!!"  To which I say, "Sure you can!"  I also realized that I have the "magic touch."  Sometimes he would jump over a pile just fine, get distracted by something, and then "poof" the ability would disappear.  He would just stand there and whimper as if he had never done such a crazy thing in all his life.

It is no use trying to reason with him, by telling him that he had just jumped over the pile 30 seconds ago.  What works is mind games.  I would tell him that I was going to help him.  I'd take his arm to help him jump.  He would jump and then after a few times I would let go before he jumped so I was sure he was doing it on his own.  It finally came down to, if I just touched him his powers were restored instantaneously. 

Not to be overshadowed by his brother's sudden ability to leap over hurdles, MB started constructing his own towers. Of course his also required that he jump a good distance in addition to the tower.



Yes, this child is never content to do just the "basics."  Here he is trying his hand at exponents, trying to do Pre-Algebra alongside Bob.



When he's not in school, he is doing his best to earn his keep around here.  He takes out the garbage, recycling, compost, and helps with laundry and dusting.  By the way, the vodka box in the picture was given to us for the move, we did NOT consume what was originally in the box!



Not to be outdone by her brother, here is Kimi "ironing" with the Shark mini vacuum. 



Also not to be outdone in the silly department, this is her imitation of someone with the mumps...(those are grapes in those chipmunk cheeks of hers)



She's also the fashionable one in the family



The triplets love love their older sibs, and thankfully the sibs love them back.

This picture makes a momma's heart sing.  This is her 13 year old son who asked his little sister if she wanted him to read her a book.



Here's our two girls enjoying being the only two girls for a little longer



And Bob modeling hats with LB.  By the way, LB's brain malformation caused him to have a very small head.  The hat he is wearing is MB's from when MB was 6 months old.  MB still wears it, but it is stretched to capacity when he does.  It would go over LB's eyes if it wasn't pushed back on his head.



It rained just today for the first time in a long time.  The triplets were outside when I heard MB shout, "Thank you Lord, thank you Lord!"  I heard the rain coming down, so I went to see what they were doing outside.  Here's what I saw...



MB then asked me if I knew why it was raining.  When I tried to give the scientific explanation, he said, "No, it's because I prayed to the Lord for it to rain."  So the "thank you Lords" were in response to the answer to his request. 

The triplets had an absolute blast outside.  It was one of those times in which you decide to be the "fun mom" and let them get filthy and wet and you deal with the consequences later (aka a very filthy bathtub).  After a while, big D said, "Uh mom, you should see how much LB is shivering."  The poor guy was doing his best to enjoy himself, but was shaking like crazy.  I brought him inside, and put him in the shower, clothes and all.  When I was done with him, I went to check on the others and was met by these two...



The 60 degree weather finally got to them.  This was not Florida in the summertime.

Hopefully by next week we'll have better news on the move to the new house!

Birthday fun and family

We've had a few birthdays around here since I last posted.  Once Kimi turned 5, our five youngest were aged 5, 4, 3, 2, 1.  It stayed that way for two weeks, and then LB turned four.

Kimi was totally psyched about her birthday.  She had several celebrations.  The first was at my parents' house.  This is how she looked before opening presents.



Yeah, slightly pumped.  It was actually a quadruple celebration for Monkey Boy, Sissy, Kimi, and LB. Kimi. 





And she was a little satisfied with her gifts.



Monkey Boy, well, he is just satisfied hanging out with his Ji-chan.



We of course had a celebration at home as well.  I tried to use this really clever technique of transferring an image onto a cake, but it didn't quite turn out right.  Poor "My Little Pony" looks like she was in a train wreck.  I am not posting this on Pinterest.  No one complained about the taste of the cake though, so that's something.



As you can see, someone was trying to help her blow out the candles....



Can you tell she likes presents?



LB was way more subdued about the whole thing.



We also celebrated their grandma's 80th birthday.  Here's MB with Grandma enjoying a slide show.



This is a great shot of her with some of her siblings (great looking bunch that they are)...



And here's a shot of the paparazzi...



Here's my gorgeous niece who will be giving me a great-nephew next month.



And here is Kimi who is partied out.

Some of Mom's siblings came to visit us to see the new house. They soon learned that if you sit still long enough, you'll be asked to read a book.



We hung out at the new house (which we are STILL not living in yet!) where MB had fun feeding his aunt...



While other children tried on Aunt Kate's  glasses.



We've been in school now for over a month.  Juggling all the kids with school and the move and the adoptions has been challenging, but I think we are doing well, all things considered.  I try to squeeze in some fun activities for school, but there is always a price for it.  Mainly, a big mess.

 

Apparently I haven't done much fingerpainting with the triplets as they didn't seem to know what to do.  When Bob told Kimi that she was supposed to stick her fingers in the paint, she said, "NO! That's gross!"  I know, totally unnatural.  Rest assured, they got the hang of it quickly and made the appropriate mess.



Nothing to report on the adoptions, other than we found out that China has changed some of their paperwork.  So joy of joys, we get to fill out some new paperwork.  We are still waiting on US immigration, which is taking a long time. 

My next post will have an update on LB's jumping skills.  Pictures are uploaded to Flickr, but I need to move on to something else.  Stay tuned!