Alleluia Boy celebrates four years! "Oh my GOSH! That's CRAZY!"

Well, Alleluia Boy had a fun-filled weekend of birthday celebrations. One of the highlights was going through old pictures and videos with him on the computer -- a source of constant fascination for all the kids. Today he said, very seriously, "You know, my NEXT birthday is coming right up, so we better get ready!" Playing along, I answered, "Yep...it's only ONE YEAR AWAY!" To which he put a hand to his forehead (in classic AB style) and exclaimed, "Oh my GOSH!"

As he was falling asleep, he was asking whether he would have another birthday in two years (yes), four years (yes), ten years (yes). I told him he'd be fourteen years old in ten years -- as big as his oldest brother. "Wow, that's a LOT," he said, and then promptly conked out for the night.

Alex tuirns seven

This was originally posted at Alex's adoption blog; I'm cross-posting here.

In celebration of Alex's seventh birthday, four videos of the birthday boy in full thrall.

To start off, here he is in bed in the morning, in a good mood:



And then getting off the bus, with a birthday hat from school, and with two of his PCAs to greet him, along with a new babysitter and family members -- a regular old party down on the curb (I just love these helpers of his, by the way!):



And singing the birthday song:



And finally, a video from earlier -- him practicing his colors. He is learning to count and to identify letters as well:

Happy birthday to Mouse and Jubilee Girl!

Our wonderful girls are officially another year older! We're celebrating their "birthday week" around here, starting with some special dinners last week. They had a cake and small celebration with their seventeen Minnesota-Wisconsin cousins over the weekend, and then another family celebration Sunday evening. We still have some celebrating to do...specifically, some ice cream treats and some star gazing...if it ever warms up!

Here are the highlights:

Happy birthday, Alleluia Boy!

Guess how old Alleluia Boy is? If you ask him, "How old are you?" he will probably respond, "Good!"

Among his latest accomplishments are learning to count to twenty, learning basic (very basic) addition, an ever-expanding vocabulary ("What is that called? ... Oh!"), and using the potty (most of the time, anyway).

Happy birthday, Alex!

When Alex turned five on this day one year ago, he was just getting used to a new institution, having recently been moved from the only home he'd known since he was a baby.

Today, Alex celebrated his sixth birthday with his forever family. The book that our seven-year-old daughter made for him says it all. Here is the cover:

The book is titled "The Boy Who Loved His Family"

And here is the last page:

And the last page says, "We love you!"

And here is how the birthday boy spent his big day:

Just after waking up...bed-head! "Good morning!" he says.

Eating homemade cinnamon raisin bread in the car.

Playing outdoors on a beautiful day with our good friend who has volunteered
to help care for Alex three hours a day, gratis. Once we get approved for a PCA,
she will be paid.

The big hit of the day: a nice new balloon! It went everywhere with him.

Folding hands to say grace before dinner (bread, cantaloupe, black bean soup).

Wearing the traditional Windley-Daoust birthday hat while preparing to blow out
the candles. Actually, he had no idea about blowing out candles, so someone else
had to do it for him.

Let him eat cake! With his hands!

Cake face. He actually quit eating before he was done with the cake...guess he filled up on that
good cantaloupe.

Asleep with his new stuffed animal at the end of a busy day. He loves that alligator!

Alex has made incredible strides in the three months he has been home with us.

He now uses English more often than he uses Russian, and he probably knows a couple hundred English words.

He has just recently learned the joy and art of giving and receiving hugs, and does so enthusiastically, and with a big smile on his face.

He asked to try to use the toilet today, probably inspired by the sight of his little brother potty training (and getting candy as a reward). He didn't actually go -- and actually he kind of fell off while trying to close the door -- but he got a piece of candy for his effort.

He knows how to say "please" and "thank you" and "I want."

He knows some of the words to his favorite songs on our Standing on the Rock CD.

He asks to "read" a book, and enjoys looking at the pictures.

He is up to wearing his foot braces almost all day, and is getting better and better at standing and walking (with support).

He has grown several inches, and gained several pounds.

And, he is learning to drive:

Here he quite literally turned to me and asked, "Can I have the keys?"

Did I mention that he has chutzpah? Keep going, Alex -- keep going!

The girls' birthdays

The girls celebrated their birthdays over the weekend...with Jubilee Girl turning seven and Mouse turning ten. Since their birthdays are so close together, we usually combine the celebration, with separate cakes.

Jubilee Girl is smiling because this birthday cake was preceeded with "ral" pizza from Godfather's.
("Real" in her opinion...!)

Mouse received a new scooter from her grandparents, while Jubilee Girl got a new
(much-needed) bike from mom and dad. We got each girl a bell for their handlebars,
so now they can go up and down the sidewalk together ringing their bells. They are
also showing off new purses they received from their grandparents; they have been
taking those things everywhere!

Mouse had wanted a dollhouse she could paint and decorate. This corrugated
cardboard one was perfect...she has spent hours constructing the little cardboard furniture,
as well as making her own accessories (tissue-paper bedspreads and pillows, a toybox made
from a matchbox). She spent a few more hours this afternoon painting the various rooms
with a friend.

On the afternoon of her birthday, Mouse wanted to paint a mural on a wall.
We set her up with paint in the garage. She painted the whole wall under the stairs
white as a preparatory step to painting the mural.

Of birthdays and various things

Well, it has been a long time since I last posted...it is insanely crazy around here, again...so here's a quick catch-up post.

The weather continues to be exceptionally mild (for the most part...we had snowflakes
in the air today)...extending the playground season.

I turned 42 on Nov. 7. A few nights earlier, Starling and I went out to eat in La Crosse (woo-hoo!), the first time we'd done that in years, due to Mudpuppy being so young. I went looking for a fancy-but-not-too-expensive restaurant and thought I found one in the Waterfront. I couldn't get their menus to come up, but another review said they were "reasonable," which turns out to be a relative term...as we found out. Everything was wonderful, from the service to the ambiance to the (truly amazing) food. Starling said she had the best scallops she'd ever tasted, which is saying something for a girl who grew up on the Eastern seaboard, and whose parents now live on the Gulf Coast. But I couldn't help feeling bad about the expense...what would St. Francis say???!!! Yikes. The penultimate "fancy restaurant" moment came when someone other than our server stopped at the table just to brush a few bread crumbs off the white linen tablecloth.

Isn't this just cute? It's a mousse something or other...note the little ice bridge
connecting the two berries...and that is a curl of pure chocolate on top. $9.

My favorite part of my birthday is getting homemade gifts from the kids, along with their kind words. Every year I say the same thing: "Do you know what my best present is? You!" Only this year when I said, "Do you know what my favorite present is?", the older kids said, "Yeah, yeah, us!" And I said, "No! These warm pajamas!" Ha ha, just kidding. The older ones are at that jokey stage. We ended the party with a big group hug.

Mouse and Jaybird with their paper airplanes.

The day of my actual birthday, the kids were off of school. Happy birthday, you get to watch the kids all day! Actually, they were very good -- they entertained themselves most of the day. They rediscovered paper airplanes, and spent hours making them and flying them, both indoors and outdoors.

And finally, before I turn in for the night, here is a bit from the kids' Fall Sharing Night:

Bear with the classroom salamander.

Mouse with an algebraic cube.

Jaybird demonstrating her mastery of terms for three-dimensional geometric objects.
She also demonstrated a word-matching work.

And here is Bear with his favorite work -- maps! Here he is working on placing
city names on a map of the Ukraine.

That's all for now!

Mudpuppy's birthday!

Mudpuppy had a great birthday last Friday! Of course, he was mostly oblivious to what was going on, but everyone enjoyed the festivities on his behalf. Starling came home from work early, and then we all went on a walk in the bluffs--the fall has been gorgeous, very unlike what the weather was two years ago after bringing the baby home.

Mudpuppy is ALMOST big enough to keep up on these long walks...he still
gets to be carried part of the way, though!

C'mon, give us that famous smile! Okay, a smirk will have to do.

He tolerated the Birthday Hat, unlike his older sibs, but didn't want to blow out
the candle!

Mudpuppy needs no persuasion in the chocolate cake dept.

Among his favorite gifts: One of those push-popper things
(the kind with the annoying balls that pop around in a bubble),
this little racetrack, some nesting boxes, and a wood puzzle.

Stacking the nesting boxes is fun--but not as much as knocking
them down!

Mouse's friends party

At our house, we do not have friends over for birthday celebrations. Early on we learned that there is no way to invite people over for your child's birthday celebration without getting lots of gifts -- you can say "no gifts," but someone always brings'em anyway. So instead, we wait a few months and have a friends party.

The girls after breakfast the next morning.

Mouse really wanted a pool party so she and her friends could pretend to be mermaids. That seemed simple enough: just pile the kids into the van and take them ot the outdoor Aquatic Center for a few hours, then back home for supper.

Well, wouldn't you know it, after a very warm few weeks earlier in June, the day of the party was forecast to have a high in the 50s, with rain and high winds. Starling and I spent the twenty-four hours before the party trying to figure out an alternative setting for the pool party. (Postponing wasn't an option, since one of the girls is moving to China in July.) You know, there are something like nine indoor swimming pools in this town, but accessing any of them is either impossible or prohibitively expensive ($100+ for a hotel room).

So we went on Facebook to fish for suggestions, and we got one that worked -- a hotel in Rochester with a small indoor waterpark that you could get into for a reasonable price. Sure, it was an hour away. Sure, it cost more than we planned to spend. But the mermaid party was saved! All the girls had a fun and memorable time.

Bear turns 11

Here are some pictures from Bear's birthday party:

As you can see, there was much silliness, and cake, and a few presents.

We enjoy having an 11-year-old in the house. Bear has not lost his quick smile and laugh, but now he has a pre-teen's wry sense of humor to go along with it. He is as kind and generous as ever (well, except on occasion with his sisters). He is introspective and asks a lot of good questions. He is also trying out more adult roles -- like jumping into adult conversations. Sometimes that turns out fine, sometimes not. The other day he spent an afternoon volunteering at the Winona Catholic Worker -- scrubbing shelves in the pantry at the Dan Corcoran House, which we hope to reopen to families in the fall. I also see a new patience and maturity in him when it comes to doing things that he doesn't like to do, like chores and summer homework. A lot less complaining and foot-dragging, and a lot more can-do attitude.

Bear is also our entrepreneur. He is still looking for ways to make money, driven largely by his voracious appetite for new electronic gadgets and games. He is not shy about asking to be paid for extra work, or hitting up other adults for ideas about how he can make money. We'll have to see how to encourage him on that path. Someone around here needs to make some money!

We do love our eleven-year-old!

Story of a birthday celebrationGue

Guess whose birthday it is? (Art by Mouse.)

If you guessed the person holding the fork, you'd be
CORRECT!

Must have cake! (This cake, which included several
cups of chocolate chips and a cup of sour cream, was so
rich that even I couldn't finish a whole piece.)

Mudpuppy, however, has no such difficulties.
Just not a lot of hand-eye coordination.

No birthday celebration is complete without gifts!

Happy birthday to Dad!

Well, we celebrated my 41st birthday in fine fashion on Sunday. We kicked things off with a public speaking engagement at church that turned out just fine. Then the girls and I went canoeing on the lake one last time; Mouse taught me to sing, "Row, row, row your boat, gently down the stream -- until you hit the waterfall, then you start to scream!" Which we sang in rounds, very loudly, as we paddled around the lake.

We had a delicious chocolate cake from a recipe supplied by Starling's mother. I'll include the recipe below for posterity.

I got a VERY nice subcompact camera -- a Canon Powershot SD1400 IS -- that I absolutely love. I have been playing with it, getting to know it and exploring its limits. Much faster shutter speed, and much better tolerance for low light situations. I'll post the results here soon.

Every year, one of the kids wants to know my best present. This year, it was Jaybird. Every year, I have the same answer, so I turned to the older kids and asked them. "Kids, what's my best present?"

"Us!!!"

That made Jaybird smile. She was adorable, by the way, giving out lots of hugs and many homemade cards and presents.

Mudpuppy got to share in the cake!

And there is the masterpiece -- the cake, I mean, although the kid is remarkable, too!

Once a Year Super Rich Chocolate Cake recipe

1 box chocolate cake mix
1 small package chocolate pudding mix
1 cup sour cream
1 cup Canola oil
4 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup milk
2 cups mini chocolate chips

Mix all except chips, beat two minutes. Batter will be very thick. Add chips.

Pour into greased 9-inch pans. Bake at 350 for 45 minutes.

About a bazillion calories, which is why it's a once a year cake. :)