Rainy Day Project

It has rained for the last five months with only a day or two break here and there, and I've almost run out of ideas for indoor projects and things to do with the kids to keep them from bouncing off the walls. I got this idea from OMSI, so I asked Daddy to bring home some computer packing foam for us to play with. He has an almost endless supply of this stuff, so he was happy to oblige. The kids pounded golf tees into the foam and built different things. It kept Ryan occupied for several hours, and he learned a little bit about construction, like how to toenail two pieces together. I regret that I neglected to take a picture of our finished project. It was several stories high, and quite architecturally appealing, if I do say so myself!

Tip: If you decide to try this, DON'T use the regular styrofoam, use the plastic-type foam. It's nice and clean and doesn't fall into millions of little static-charged bits. Ask me how I learned this tip!

Beverly Cleary Sculpture Garden

Ryan and Ribsy

Ryan, Ramona, and Abigail

The kids and I go to the library regularly, and they love to have me read books to them. Last year I started reading aloud chapter books to them, and they really like it. Among others, we have read Charlotte's Web, The Boxcar Children, and most recently, Ramona the Pest. My fourth grade teacher, Mrs. Zody, read to us every day, and one of my favorite books that she read was Ramona. The author is from Portland, and the Ramona books take place in and around the area. Ryan particularly likes the series, so when I found out there is a Beverly Cleary Scuplture Garden in a park in Portland, I decided to take the kids to see it.

Ryan liked seeing a life-size (maybe a little big) statue of Ramona, and he really liked Ribsy, the friend's dog. We only have two books left to read in the series, but it's been a fun walk down memory lane for me and hopefully a fun journey for the kids. He also thoroughly enjoyed the see-saw (much to my surprise) and tire swing. He even felt brave enough to swing on his bottom instead of on his belly like he usually does.

What Daddy's Been Up To

While we were busy playing downtown and having a fun time, Daddy was working hard trying to get the new location up and running. After a short visit to Saturday Market on Saturday (when else?), we were able to take a quick peek at what Daddy had been up to. This tangle of cables is just overwhelming to me! Who enjoys sorting that out? I guess Daddy does. We got a quick tour of the new space and his new servers and their racks, and after that we had to go and let him get back to work.

Sad Baby

Last summer when we took Ryan to OMSI for the first time, we went into this exhibit that shows the stages of life from conception to about the eighth month of pregnancy. The sign says that all the babies died by accident or natural causes, and while it's a fascinating display, it makes me sad each time we see it. Every time Ryan sees this one baby (preserved by some plasticine method), he always says, "Why is the baby sad?" It chokes me up every time, and I thought I'd snap a picture to post on his blog.

I counted. There are 44 lost lives in this exhibit, each one probably mourned and missed.

More OMSI Fun

Daddy's boss got him a hotel this weekend so he could get some sleep during the company's move. He also said that we could come and stay too, so the kids and I packed our bags and spent Thursday through Monday downtown Portland. We had a great time!

Our first activity was to go to OMSI on Friday. We usually only go for a couple of hours, but we spent most of the day there this time. Ryan loved one of their new additions, this semi-truck to load cargo into with the crane. We did the usual sandbox and waterworks, but we also went to see Dolphins at the OMNIMAX theater. Abby fell asleep about halfway through, but Ryan stayed awake for all but about the last ten minutes. I was surprised by how much he enjoyed the movie. It's not something he usually likes, but he was fully engaged in it the whole time he was awake.

Driving the Bus

One of Ryan's chores is to sweep under the table after breakfast and lunch. I have him pull out all the chairs so he can do a good job (at least good for a four year old). I went in to make my bed while he was doing this Wednesday, and when I came back into the kitchen he had lined up all the chairs in a row and he informed me it was his bus. So I cut up some paper into strips for tickets and gave them a Tupperware lid for a steering wheel, and they had a grand time playing bus for about an hour! I love it when THEY come up with neat activities that keep them busy, don't make a mess (well, the tickets did kind of end up everywhere), and cost nothing!

Oh, and he did a lovely job sweeping the floor too!

The Lord Provides

I am so excited! I got the final missing item needed to begin our homeschooling. I have done research for years now on curricula and homeschooling methods, and about nine months ago I found the curriculum that we are going to use. I used to feel stressed and terrified at the prospect of educating our children, but now I have a plan and a curriculum that I believe will work well for our family (Lord willing). More importantly, I have peace about homeschooling now.

Last year we purchased the printer we needed for printing out the books, and I also purchased some preliminary items and things I thought would be useful for teaching. We hadn't yet purchased the curriculum, and though it is relatively inexpensive at $195, we just kept coming up short for the purchase. Today as I was browsing through a used book store's pathetic homeschool section, I saw an item that piqued my curiosity. As I began reaching for it, instantly I knew what it was and my heart started beating faster. Sure enough it was the entire set of discs for our chosen curriculum, The Robinson Curriculum! Best of all was the price, a mere $15! I said a silent Thank You to the Lord, and promptly went and paid for it. I do have to buy the upgrade disc at a cost of $20, but it is still an enormous savings. Our God is so faithful to provide!

Eating Snow

Ryan remembers our "big" snowstorm of two years ago, and every year he thinks we're going to get that much snow again. Unfortunately, we rarely get more than a dusting. We woke up this morning to just such a dusting, and it got all of us excited. We hopped in the van and tried to find someplace where they got more snow than we did, but we didn't really have much luck. While we were driving though, it started coming down pretty thick, so I pulled the van over at Trojan Park and let the kids get out and play. They were freezing but had a blast. Ryan kept trying to catch a flake on his tongue and wanted Abby to try too. I don't think either one of them succeeded. As we got back in the van to go home, we talked about how great God is and how wonderful it is that He created snow!

Dinner and a Hockey Game

Daddy had a vendor dinner on Saturday and afterward got to go to a Portland Winterhawks game. The sales rep was bringing his wife and two kids, so Ed asked if he could bring his too, and the rep said yes. So we all had a free dinner and a hockey game. We each also got a free hockey puck, and Daddy won the doorprize and got a Winterhawks jersey too (actually, I won it but I wasn't in the meeting at the time). Ryan was grumpy for some reason, but he did end up having a good time. The free cookies helped a bit!

Nonna's Birthday

Nonna's birthday was last month, so last Sunday we went to visit her. We went out to lunch and then to a nearby park. The kids loved the covered bridge, and they ran back and forth and back and forth over the wooden bridge.

Daddy and Ryan walked in the rain along a short trail, but since it was raining, we had to leave, much to Ryan's dismay. After the park we went to Dairy Queen for some dessert. That's always a hit with the kids, and the adults enjoyed it too!

Birthparents

Over the last four years the Lord has obviously been working in the lives and hearts of Ryan's birthparents. We are so blessed to have an open and wonderful relationship with his birthmother, Becky, even though we live a thousand miles apart. Last spring she called and told me that she and Ryan's birthfather, Dorian, were going to get married! He is serving in the military and they ended up postponing the wedding several times due to Dorian's duties being prolonged in Korea, but last month they were able to finally get married. I'm very happy for them and for their daughter Parker, Ryan's birthsister (she's one year and one day older than Ryan).

Becky emailed these wedding pictures and graciously allowed me to post them here! I showed Ryan the pictures (he recognized Becky right away) and told him that they just got married. He said, "Oh." LOL. He knows he's adopted and is very familiar with his birth story, but I don't think he really grasps much of what that means yet.

Sprinkles

Even though Ryan has had this stuffed hippo since the day he was born, it's only been the last couple months that they have become almost inseparable. His name is Sprinkles, and we bought him when we were first told that we had been chosen to be Ryan's parents. Sprinkles got lost once in WinCo when Ryan was about six months old, but Daddy went back and "rescued" him (I was more upset at that point than Ryan was). Thankfully he was in the lost and found and didn't go home with some little child.

Ryan was allowed to take comfort items with him into surgery, and he took his blankie and Sprinkles. He calls Sprinkles his "baby," and he takes very good care of him. When I told Ryan that we were getting his picture taken today, he asked if he could bring Sprinkles and have his picture taken too. So we brought him along and put him in one of the pictures. The poor hippo is well-loved and very shabby looking, but Ryan loves him to death!

Birthday Pictures

We got Ryan's four-year-old pictures taken today, and they turned out really cute so I thought I'd share them here. We usually go to Kiddie Kandids because I usually have a coupon or a special deal, and my favorite thing is that they let you purchase the pictures on disc and you own the copyright. We send lots of pictures to family and birthparents, and I love being able to print whatever I want whenever I want!

Doctor Appointments

Ryan had two doctor appointments today. The first was his four-year checkup. He fought and fussed even though we kept reassuring him that he wasn't even going to get a shot. I think the reason he was so uptight was that the last time he had his weight and blood pressure checked he had eye surgery and woke up in pain! Anyway, he's in the 15 percentile in height and 50 percentile in weight. It's no wonder everyone keeps asking if he and Abby are twins...he's not growing very tall very fast and she's almost caught up with him!

His second appointment was the one-month follow-up with his eye surgeon. He has healed great and his vision is really good. He most likely won't need to have another surgery, but as expected, we didn't get a full correction of his strabismus. He still crosses a fair amount up close, but at distance there is much improvement. The surgeon said that may be the best we can do for him. He crosses much more with his glasses off than with them on, so he will be wearing those for quite some time, if not forever. Time will tell. Overall though, I am pleased with the results and now that it's over, I'm glad we did it for him.

Not a Thief

On Sunday we visited another church on our search for a church home. Eddie took Ryan to his Sunday School room and introduced him to the teacher. The young woman was trying to make friends with him and said, "Do you want to walk down the hall with me and steal some Band-aids?" Ryan gave her a horrified and scared look and shook his head NO! She thought he just didn't trust her, but Daddy told her it was the word she used...steal. She apoligized and explained her poor choice of words, and he felt much better after that. I don't know what we ever did to instill the Thou Shalt Not Steal Lesson so effectively, but I'm glad he has learned it. We are so proud of him!

Quiet Time

Well, I've finally given up trying to get Ryan to take an actual nap. Ever since he's stopped sucking his thumb, he's not been sleeping at naptime. I guess he doesn't need as much sleep as previously and without his thumb lulling him to sleep he just can't. However, I'm not ready to give up my one hour of quiet time each day, so I've struck a compromise with him. He doesn't have to lay on his bed for an hour trying to get to sleep anymore...IF he will play quietly or read books for an hour so I can have my quiet hour and maybe even take the occasional nap. (He may not need them, but I swear I still do!) He's been doing this for about a week now, and he's been doing great. He takes a few cars and books on his bed and sits there reading or playing quietly until I tell him the hour is up. He's much happier at naptime now and so am I since I don't have to answer the "Can I get up now?" question a million times!

Follow the Leader

Ryan is quite the leader. Wherever we go it seems like he just naturally takes charge. When we go to the park, even kids much older than him will follow whatever game he's playing. Unfortunately, he is often bossy too. I usually try to moderate what he's telling Abby to do, but today Abby seemed to be so enjoying following him around I just left well enough alone. They got to actually play in our backyard for the first time today. I hasn't rained for several days in a row, and the yard was dry enough to let them go out and enjoy the sunshine. They played for four hours! Ryan was busy making up games to play, and Abby was just joyfully doing whatever he wanted. It was wonderful to see them playing so well together. I'm trying to teach Ryan to let Abby choose the game sometimes too, and hopefully it's sinking in. But for today, I was happy to just let them enjoy their "roles."

All Buttoned Up

We've been working on learning to do buttons for quite a while now, and I've known Ryan could do it if he really tried at all. Yesterday was the day he decided he would try, and guess what? He can button buttons! I knew he could, but now he knows he can, and he's pretty pleased with himself.

Some of his other more recent accomplishments are brushing and flossing his teeth by himself. He uses a "flosser," and he can do all but the very back teeth himself. I usually brush his teeth afterwards, just to make sure they're getting cleaned well, but he does a really good job all by himself. Yesterday he also announced he was going to learn to do the zipper all by himself! Pretty soon he won't need me for anything...sniff.

Cookie Maker

For some reason I cannot convince Ryan to taste cookie dough. I keep telling him he will love it, but he's not buying it. So while Abby enjoyed licking the beater, Ryan helped me scoop cookies onto the cookie sheet. He's a good helper...he even helped eat them after they were baked.

New Bike

Months ago after his first dental appointment, we told Ryan that if he could stop sucking his thumb by his birthday we would get him a bike. He promptly told us he wanted a green one with training wheels and a basket! Well, except for one small regression right before we moved (probably stress), Ryan immediately stopped sucking his thumb. We are so proud of him, and it was fun giving him his new bike...green with training wheels but no basket. We can't find any baskets for boys yet, so we'll keep looking. He did great on his first time out around the neighborhood. He's squinting in this picture, but I don't know if it's because of his eye surgery or because today was the first day in months we've actually seen the sun! It was very gracious of the Lord to give us sun for Ryan's birthday celebration.