Well, my work here is done. Although Joanie is threatening to make me do an entry every week. Hah!

It's been fun, and it's been real..........

seeya next time!! K

Okay, 'sheesh' no longer works. I have taken to using other terms but ONLY under my breath. Today was our first early morning...no, I mean EARLY morning start. Had to be at the school when they opened in order for me to get to work in time. Didn't happen. We were off to a good start until it came time to actually go out the door. Then things started coming up: what budds to bring, what budds to allow Chance to bring, "I need a snack", "You just finished two bowls of cereal"!, "Ma-maa"!, "Waaa-a-a-a"!. Sheesh was still working at this point. School drop off was rather smooth- I got this now......no I dont!!

I waved good bye to both tikes through the window and hoped for the best. At least today I didnt forget to label Chances' toiletries like I did yesterday. Wonder what they wiped his bottom with.......Can ya spare a square?

Pick up was almost fun, everybody happy to see the old man and no hassles getting out. Then we got to the truck and I have to assume this is when Chances' molar started bothering him. By the time we got home, I was laying him over my lap to get a look in his mouth because there was no other way to explain his mood. Fed him, dry-diapered him, coddled him, ....has to be teeth. Sure enough, big ol' molar on the right side. Nice sharp piont shooting through but clearly the rest of the little brick trying to get through, too. Sheesh stoped working here. Tylenol wasn't doing it's job yet either, although I did get it in him shortly after I removed the previously mentioned "sharp point" from my finget and my finger from his mouth. Good strong jaw muscles.

The racoon was bad....tonight....baths. Yikes. Oh well, I think to myself, it'll pass the time until bedtime quietly. Wrong. So wrong. I should have known. Got messy. Fast. Chance had fun, though, until I rinsed his head. Must be a better way than dumping a pirate ship full of scurvy water on the lads head. Worked though....sorta. Next! Shaeleigh can take care of herself mostly but that does leave me playing zone in a very small room. So we all had a shower. With bubbles.

Joanie called in the middle of the changing of the bath water. That'll learn her! She won't try that again!! Hahaha. She is doing well, working hard and interviewing all the princesses she see's for photo ops.We sure do miss her! Twenty Four hours to go!!! I think I can, I think I can, I think I can.......

'Round these here parts, "crying out loud" is a peace-shattering, dream-shaking, vocal freight train in the form of "Ma-Maaaa!!!!" followed by the inevitable screech of the crib railing being rattled to its pins.Yep, Chance is awake and ready to start the day. The day is supposed to start at 6:00am. It was only 4:50am. I tried, honestly I did, to explain this to him. He simply turned around in his crib, bent over and picked up Sully, Froggy and Brown Doggie and turned back to me, as I was EXPECTED to now lift him to freedom and warm milk. As I have been saying quite a bit lately,...Sheesh. He's a pain. hahaha, I kid, but really...he demands a lot of attention. Shaeleigh, on the other hand arose quite peacefully this morning. We heard her stirring and (remember, she can be a little cranky in the morning!) had to walk past her door and we did so VERY carefully. To our surprise, our quiet little squeak of a 'good morning' was met with a chirpy little "meow". A good sign,... she is waking as a kitten and not a lioness.

We had a nice breakfast and were off to school. All in all, a great morning even if it DID start a little sooner than I would have liked. Chance didn't want to stay at school when it came time for me to leave. Thats a hard goodbye. I seldom, if only once to date, drop the kids in the morning, so this is all new to me. Once again, thank goodness for Shaeleigh. She knows it all. She rocks! But Chance crying when you drop him off is almost too much to take! I'll take picking them up anytime.

From the time I picked them up after school until bedtime was really no different than any other day. We came home, discussing dinner on the way to give me time to prepare, and watched good ole Blues Clues while we snacked on multi colored fish and sipped juice. Shaeleigh nailed her make-it-yourself pre-made pizza(seriously) in nothing flat while her little brother once again emptied my culinary imagination while ingesting virtually nothing. Except the fish. Oh well, I think his teeth or the arrival of same are causing him some discomfort. Poor little guy.

After we ate we headed out to the cul-de-sac to run around for a while before calling it a night. Uneventful ending. PJ's, bottle, stories, brush teeth and gums and sleep. Chance still resisting and it feels different than his normal aversion to bedtime. Same as last night. I declare it Separation-From-Mommy Syndrome. He's asleep now, she's still talking to her buds but heading out and I, I am going to chill a bit and mentally run through the morning so I'll at least see the train coming.

'Night all-Kenn

p.s.-if anyone is looking for pics....I dont have time. Visualize.

 Hey all, Kenn here. Well, Joanie is off playing overgrown child in Fla at the popular government retreat known as Disneyland. She deserves it, believe me! I, on the other hand, am in my own little Disney-like world here at home. Managing these two crumbsnatchers on my own is proving to be all I had imagined....and just a little more.

We had a good day, started out bright and early...and noisy. See, everyone is well now. That means we have non-stop screaming matches that nobody wins. After seeing Mom out the door, Chance and I watched a little early Sunday TV. sipped our coffee/apple juice and awaited the beas, er, Shaeleigh. She woke up, came out and joined me on the couch and immediately proceeded to admonish a very innocent Chance with a "Stop it, Chance"!. I look over, and the poor guy is 10 feet away from her looking as confused as I did!!! Haha, preemptive strike, I guess!! Cracked me up, though.

You can't keep Chance boxed in for long though, so after watching him hang on the gate between the kitchen and the rest of the house yelling "Ma-Maaa..." to his mother hundreds of miles away, we headed off to find a dry playground to shake out some nap-stealing excess energy. I had a back up plan of a trip to Wal-Mart (nobody doesn't like a WalMart adventure) but we found the "mushroom playground" by the mall to be pre-dried by all the little tushes that preceded us there. Poor Shaeleigh, she must just LOOK like fun to be around. These two little girls, in separate incidents, both kept following her around wanting her to play with them. She, of course, was not interested in playing "Pokemon" with a complete stranger. Not that she or I knew what that game was....we didn't. After explaining to the first girl that Shaeleigh was playing with her little brother (Yay!! She claimed him in public as a playmate!), the girl wandered off and was later seen hanging around another strange family while her Mom/caretaker talked on the phone. A shame. I asked the second little girl if she wanted some of the Starbucks Ice brewed Caramel Machiatto's that we were drinking, but she gave me a strange look and ran off yelling "Mommy"!! Then, a quick sprint up and down the nearby field and we were headed home for lunch. Shaels and I had hot dogs and Chance had a little of everything. He knows how to 'work' a kitchen!! Down for naps and Dad can relax. Ooops, no...spoke too soon. Mr. I-dont-need-a-nap-this-morning is now past tired and fighting sleep. In fact, he is standing in his crib, jerking the rail back and forth yelling "Ma-Maaa" . This is going to take a little finesse. He's a fighter, that one, but finally goes to sleep. For about an hour. This should have been at least a two hour napper but no, he is now tired and awake. Not a good combination, but he DOES fall asleep with me on the couch for our weekly couchnap (that Mom usually captures on film so the world can enjoy me sitting there with my mouth wide open and Chance perched precariously on the couch beside me threatening to fall off at any moment). Joanie, you can just insert any of the previous photo's....they all pretty much show the same thing, just different clothes on us! Haha

Ahh, a nice nap on the couch.....can't beat it!! We all had an early dinner and then took the wagon out for a little walk around the neighborhood. Again, this is really just an exercise in exercise....walking is encouraged! All going well until we come to an opening for a storm drain. There at the exit is an expired baby racoon. Yea, lying there like he just got washed out the tube. Not a pretty sight but not one I could avoid in time either. Then it came,...."Dad, what is that?" It's a baby racoon, Shaeleigh. "Whats it doing there? Why is it just laying there?" Well, Shaels, its not living anymore, it must have gotten caught up in that big rain storm and didnt make it. "But why is it there? What is it doing?" It's not doing anything, it's , it's, it's.....HELP ME!!! Joanie, this in no time to leave me on my own!!!! I think I finally somewhat appeased her but I could tell by the silence that she was still processing it long after we walked on. This one is going to be coming back at me, I can just tell. Sheesh, had to be when I was parenting solo....(It was odd looking....looked just like a stuffed animal that had gotten thrown down a storm drain.....and couldnt move!)

On to the creek to throw some rocks and then home to bed. No, not that easy but I had hopes. First a snack, then brush the teeth, a bottle, PJ's, diaper, potty?, "settle down", another diaper, "indoor screaming voices"....<sigh> Chance did not want to go to sleep again this evening. I think he is aware Mom is gone and not sure how to feel about it. He is finally asleep now, but he had to be rocked WITH Sully his pet monkey and Mr Froggy his....,well, pet frog. Now, if Shaels will finish reading her pile of books she will be soon asleep and house shall once again know peace for, hopefully, at least 8 hours. Tomorrow,....should be interesting. I will try to update/document our adventures for posterity.    Dad/Kenn out.

I can't believe I forgot to memorialize this one, but a few weeks ago I hit a classic parental milestone.  I had to pull the car over to the side of the road to take care of the cat fight in the backseat.  Shaeleigh's carseat has (had) a little elastic strap on the side which has no real function (I think it is suppose to hold the strap in place while you put the child in so that it doesn't get tangled).  Chance discovered that it was in reach and since it is (was) elastic, he could pull it up and then let go so that it would make a big snapping sound.  This drives Shaeleigh insane.  "Chance stop it.  Chance stop it.  Chance STOOOOOP it."  (this drives me insane).  I tried for weeks to teach her to just hand him another toy to distract him but this morning (after a final incident last night) I brought the scissors out to the car and cut it off.  I have to admit, I did catch a glimpse of Chance reaching out for it and noticing it was no longer there and got a good laugh.

All in all, we don't get too many bozo comments from people about our family but today we did have a bit of a moment.  We were at the check out at WalMart and the cashier asks me, "Are these YOUR kids" so I smile and say, "yes."  She gets a complete look of astonishment on her face and looks back and forth from me to Kenn and just says, "Wow, because they really don't look anything like either one of you!"  In all honesty I think she thought it was some sort of medical miracle but I just said, "No, no they don't."  Then she says, "Because he looks so.... and you look....  And they have Chinese faces."  So then I say, "We are an adoptive family."  I was glad that I said it this way for once.  Of course this doesn't make sense to her so I say it again.  The light comes on.  She says, "Ooooh, that's so nice of you.  Do you have any of your own kids?"  I say, "Yes.  These two right here."  She says, "Oh," but misses the point.  She then of course asks if they are brother and sister to which I just said, "Yes, yes they are." 

I think the conversation was okay from my end.  I didn't say anything I regret but I think the next step is to start crafting my answers, not only so that the kids know we proud of the way our family was formed but to also let them know that it's okay to educate other people and point out that there questions are also rude.  I'll let you know how that goes once we encounter our next "incident."

We have new photos but maybe tomorrow.  Also - the difference in Chance is pretty amazing and we may need to call it a miracle after all.  He has now said please and cheese and he knows moo and quack quack and ruff ruff.  He repeats back so many words that it is crazy.  He is such a cutie and so proud of himself.

One final note - and I would be remiss in not pointing it out - the adoption agreement between the US and Vietnam officially ended today.  Vietnam had stopped accepting new dossiers from the US on July 1st and at the time there were 1700 families waiting and hoping to receive an official referral by today.  I don't know how many of those families received official referrals but I know that the large majority did not.  There is little news on whether or not the agreement will be re-established and if so, how quickly.  Thoughts and prayers go out to these families as they try to decide on their next step. 

 Although it was a little touch-and-go, Chance got his ear tubes on Wednesday without any issues.  He had been cleared for surgery on Friday despite a slightly croupy sounding cough and of course by Saturday evening was running a 102 fever.  He continued to run a fever Sunday and Monday so we took him back to the pediatrician Tuesday but it seemed his fever broke in time.  His chest was clear so we were told to go ahead.

Because he'd been sick he'd been up all hours of the night for the better part of three days so I can't say we felt too lucky that he was first on the surgical schedule.  They schedule the kids from youngest to oldest and being the youngest meant we needed to be at the surgical center at 6:15 in the morning.  BUT, it turned out to be a good deal.  They were very efficient and nice and being first meant we were the first in each of the waiting areas, playroom and recovery room. 

We knew ear tubes were pretty common but it's quite a production line surgery.  We got there at 6:15 and after a few minutes Chance and a little girl were called so we went up to another waiting room.  After a few minutes 3 other families joined us but then Chance was called in and they gave him a stuffed monkey and took his vitals.  He got the cutest little hospital gown and I got a giant paper pantsuit, hat, mask and booties.  Then we went to the playroom.  Chance was in heaven.  He had the playroom to himself for about 10 minutes then the kids started trickling in.  Soon we were taken to the anesthesia room where Chance just laid on back and let them put the mask on him (gave a big yawn before nodding out) and then I was whisked away.  I had to quickly remove the giant paper pantsuit, hat, mask and booties and head down to the consultation room.  I was only there 5 minutes when the doctor came in a reported that Chance had done well and then I went back to the waiting room.  Again, I had all of 5 minutes to sit down when I was called to the recovery room.  Halfway there I heard the poor little sad cries of Chancie Pants.

When the door opened there was a nurse holding our screaming kid.  I took the poor fellow - she was telling me over and over that this was perfectly normal when little ones came out of anesthesia.  I was thinking, "hm... so if he hasn't had anesthesia he shouldn't be like this?  Because you should have seen him yesterday!"

But then I was plopped into a lovely leather easy chair and some nice nurse put the foot rest up and covered me with a warm blanket.  Wow.  I could have just shut my eyes and fallen asleep except that there was a screaming Chance on my lap and he isn't much for the rocking in a chair and so I had to get up and walk him about until he calmed down.  The recovery room had 8 little chair set ups like this.  They gave us all apple juice and crackers and stuff.  I will note that of the first four kids that came in after Chance - all of the girls curled up in their parent's arms.  All of the boys screamed like Chance.  In fact, when the first boy screamer came in I heard the nurse say, "Don't worry, it's normal.  You should have heard Chance a minute a ago." 

But, we were soon on the road and while Chance remained a bit tempermental the rest of the day, he has since been in a very good mood.  I don't know that we can report a "miracle" but the difference is very noticeable.  He is suddenly repeating back words, animal sounds and actually saying new words.  He also seems to be babbling differently.  It will be interesting to see if his nose remains a bit clearer.  Unlike most kids who get ear tubes, he hasn't had any ear infections but he has been plagued with colds and generally sicknesses.  We'll see.  For now, we are definitely noticing a hearing different.

And now...  a report from the land of Shaeleigh.  In a worthless attempt to give Shaeleigh some sense of the fact that passing gas is best done in private (after a night full of phttttttttttt phtttttttttttt phttttttttttttttttt) I said, "Shaeleigh, I don't think a princess would walk around the ball making bonkies."  Shaeleigh replied, "Well, a people princess would because people make bonkies.  Cinderella makes bonkies.  When I get married and become a princess I'll make bonkies." 

So there you go.  Kenn no longer has to worry about who Shaeleigh is dating.

Don't let the picture fool ya - Picasso is still eating more crayons and markers than drawing with them.

Little watering man.  Pay no attention to the unsightly crack in our driveway with the "vegetation" growing out of it.  Hehe - we got a note from our HOA's architecture committee complaining about "the crack."  I wrote back letting them know that the lamppost that they repaired with DUCT TAPE last year had broken again and that it had been over 2 years since the playground's marble wheel had been vandalized and maybe they ought to fix their own issues first before complaining about ours.  I did have quite the list I might add (but I won't).  I almost put in that Bible quote about not worrying about the spinter in my eye until you removed the tree limb from your own but I didn't figure there was cause to bring God into it.  At anyrate, they didn't write back.

Chance saw me give Shaeleigh a big M&M ice cream pop so I could hardly deny him.  He held it up for the longest time just saying, "WOOOOW, WOOOW"

Shaeleigh's homemade pizza.  Pretty good!  This was our first attempt at the old ploy of "if they make it themselves they are more like to eat it."  Next we are making meatloaf.  She is still coming home from school with reports of eating THREE servings of their meatloaf.  I have now tried several varieties, none of which were edible to her pallet.

Leftover sandart put to good use.

Swinging.

What?!  Could he be ready for potty training????

No.  Just acrobatics.

Is there an olympic event for dog bowl gymnastics?

And finally, a recent family portrait from Shaeleigh.  These days, everyone gets a crown.  The girls get little skirts and the boys get sleeves on their shirts.  No one gets noses, belly buttons, or ears because, "they are silly."

We celebrated Shaeleigh's "Unbirthday" last weekend at our annual picnic.  We invited her classmates and a few other friends.  The weather was perfect!  I told everyone "no presents" but much to Shaeleigh's glee, people brought presents anyway.  I think I confused a few people with invitations to an "Unbirthday" - in fact, two other parents were bemoaning to me that their kids had winter birthdays so they coudn't do an outside party.  I think I set a precendent.  I would post photos of the guests but I never know who likes or doesn't like to make their mugs public so I'm sticking to the family shots. 

I think by now we have an entire album of "cupcake" shots.  Girl's gotta live a little.

The sand art arrived weeks ago in the mail and Shaeleigh was sooooooooooooo ready by the time the day came.  I have come to realize that she is a bit more insatiable than others when it comes to crafts.  I had a friend a work tell me that she was gathering together a group of people to order from Oriental Trading (the Costco of the kid's craft world) because most of the crafts come in sets of 12 and she wanted to find 4-5 people to split the crafts up with.  I wasn't sure what to say.  I was a bit embarrassed.  I sometimes order 2-3 sets of each craft because Shaeleigh can easily sit and do 12-36 in one sitting.  Well, at least we always get the free shipping.

Ah....  Shaeleigh's friend Sydney gave her a camera!  How cool is that?  She didn't realize that the shot was behind her on this one (Chance squirt himself in the face with the hose).

Focused.

Pea-Eye the spastic neurotic dog has been amazingly calm and patient with Chance.   

He almost seems to like having his own little cowboy riding him.

Not sure what's going on here but Chance has a purpose in his stride.

We pulled the last of our carrots this weekend.

We got a couple of big ones (this one not so much).  Next year Shaeleigh wants to plant pumpkins.

Shaeleigh - proud as punch to be going up the ladder by herself these days.

"Anything you can do, I can do better...."  Chance, has no hesitations.  I ran over after this shot but I don't doubt he could do it. 

He INSISTED on believing he could pick up the watering can and when he couldn't he dragged it along and shook it until all the water was everywhere (much to his enjoyment).  And yet, he reportedly doesn't like waterplay at school. 

Shaeleigh on bugs...

Shaeleigh was pointing out a bug bit on her ankle and I said, "I don't know why bugs bite people on their ankles.  If I were a bug I'd bite people somewhere nice and meatie."  Shaeleigh says, "If I were a bug I would just fly around...  and give out kisses."

We have a CD that has "I'm Bringing Home a Baby Bumble Bee" on it which of course has the verse, "I'm squishing up my baby bumble bee...."  Shaeleigh from the back of the car ponders, "That's not very nice.  She should just hug the bee, not squish it.  I'm not going to sing squish I'm going to just sing hug."

Sure she gives her brother a good shove every now and then but she has a tender heart.....

Lots of changes 'round these parts - everyone seems to be growing up so fast.  Both Shaeleigh and Chance are moving up a class in school.  Chance had a week long transition last week from the infant room to the Junior I room (aka: Penguin to Dolphin) and reportly did well.  I had a transition meeting with the lead teachers from each room and I did finally get some truth out of them.  Usually they tell you how wonderful the kids are and sometimes I wonder if they think we can't handle the truth.  This time when I mentioned something about Chance having a bit of a temper I learned that he does pitch a fit when it's time to come in from the playground.  That sounds like the kid we know.   Also learned that he does in fact sneak in a morning nap AND when he wakes up from his nap he jumps right up in his crib and demands attention.  At last a little honesty!

But, he did well in his new room.  They don't have cribs in the Dolphin room but he apparently stayed on his cot the first two days he napped there.  The first day I picked him up from the Dolphin room one of the teachers said, "he is NOTHING like Shaeleigh!"  Ha.  Not completely true but they will be good for each other and hopefully together they can find a sense of balance between the introvert and the extrovert. 

Shaeleigh moves up to the Star room on Tuesday.  They don't do the slow transition at her age but 6 of her eight classmates from last year have already moved up so she should be fine.  She painted the picture below for her former teacher (Giraffe class).

She wrote the title on the back :  "The giraffes are walking in the grass on a bright sunny day."

Chance had his "15" month appointment (although he was 16 months).  We should now be caught up on shots.  He weighed in at 19 pounds.  He is getting bigger though and I finally took the tucks out of his 9 month pants.  He looks so big but he is still so tiny. 

He is saying "up" and sometimes "help" so we were hoping his ears had cleared.  However, we had our follow-up and the ENT last week also and he still has fluid in both ears.  He still failed the hearing test as well so we went ahead and scheduled him for ear tubes.  I guess we are lucky that he has had no infections (and that his nose cleared up) but we are getting more concerned that his poor hearing is delaying his speech and starting to frustrate him.  We have to wait until the end of August but hopefully once the tubes are in, he will hear much better.

Shaeleigh's carrots and turnips have gone crazy!  We pulled our first "test" carrot last week.

Pull!!!

Ta da!  Hm...   a little small yet.  So we left the rest in the ground.

A boy and his dog.

Hi.

Shaeleigh on Aunt Jemima:  I asked her what she wanted for breakfast on Tuesday and she said, "Some of those pancakes that are already made."  I pulled out some frozen pancakes and starting singing some made up song about Aunt Jemima making good pancakes and she said, "who's Aunt Jemima?"  so I showed her the picture on the pancake box and she said, "Oh...  she looks like a nice lady."

I don't why that cracks me up.  Something about the way she said it - so sincere and thoughtful.  Then of course she takes it a step further and goes on about how Aunt Jemima makes all the pancakes and puts them into boxes and brings them to the stores.  One minutes she doesn't know who she is, next minute she knows the poor woman's entire daily routine.

Small fry is up so I must run (or I can only type two words at a time and them must chase him down).

Yes, another snake in the garden.  This guy was kinda cute though.  I actually looked up snakes and found that both of the varieties we've seen are garter snakes so I guess I'll continue to weed the garden after all.  Then again, the thought of running screaming is still fun.

A good definition of "snake eyes"

Once again I try to get both of them together smiling.  Close....

Chance is shell shocked to find himself sitting next to Marlo Thomas.

Very nearly the shot I've been looking for - missed it by a hair.

Classic Chance.

Hm..  getting away with something no doubt...

A little dirty but still cute.

Pea-Eye, part-time horse.

Shaeleigh's first lemonade stand.  

Shaeleigh's sunflowers - grown from seeds!  Guess I got the wrong variety.  I was expecting the really big ones with the seeds inside.   That's what I remember growing as a kid.  These are pretty but I wanted Sunflowers, not sunflowers.

Smile.