Skills

My girl has got skills. Seriously... athletic scholarship here we come.

And here is some wicked cuteness. Can you tell a marching band practices in front of our house every morning? Mer is marching backwards directing and Hani is being a flag girl. Leah, their seriously sweet cousin, is being a good sport. And cute.

And there was much rejoicing...

I have a new camera cord!!
So, it has been so long since I took these pictures that I forgot that I had most of them. So glad to find them!
Here are the kids getting off their various school buses. Breaks. My. Heart.


With Nathan. I love them so.


At the skate park... which is much more fun than the actual park. The quarter pipe makes a great slide... if a little dangerous!


My sweet guy.

Hani

Not thrilled about being asked to smile for the camera... but they were all laying there so perfectly for a picture!

Hani again

Dooter

Mimi

Love this picture... especially Kai's grimace/smile...

That is the black walnut tree that my parents planted for me when I was born. The same one on which they have spent the last 10 years cultivating a swing worthy limb.

My seriously cute niece, Eleanore, getting baptized. Seriously... so cute.

A trip to Fargo for my birthday... we took the kids to Yunker's farm, which they LOVED. But I was cranky because we went to a children's museum on my birthday... not that it wasn't fun, but I wanted to do stuff that I wanted to do... but anything I wanted to do would not have been fun while chasing the kids around trying to keep them from breaking things. So we went this route. And had a lovely time.

I kind of love these pictures. I love how Meron is looking at his face.

And how Kai is absolutely terrified of him, but really wants to play with the statue like the big kids!

Mer and Hani went on their first ever Ferris Wheel.

Hani's first day of head start.

The birthday cake that Nathan and the kids made for me.

Just cuteness...

And Mer's best bad ass face.

Oh the things you have missed...

Anybody still there? Hello?!

Let me explain... no there is too much. Let me sum up. (Bonus points if you get what movie that is from)

So broken computer and missing camera cord leading to an inability to charge or remove pictures from my camera = really poor blogging.

*Everyone started school. It is going well. They are mostly well behaved, lovely and charming. Was there any doubt that this would be the case? Maybe... Mer has class clown tendencies. I may have been a little worried about that.

*Hani has gone from never holding a pencil to drawing people. Like, recognizable people with faces, hair, limbs and digits. In 8 months. It is kind of like when we came home with Meron and she couldn't even roll over and then a month later she was crawling and three months later she was walking. Like all the developmental steps we missed happening at lightening speed. Way. Cool.

* There was some fall out due to the change in routine. Wow. I'm not going to say more, just cry quietly in the corner. Things seem to be sorting themselves out after the implementations of the world most ridiculously strict boundaries and a sticker chart.

*The girls started in Nathan's taewkondo class. They are total rock stars. Meron was still only 3 when she started, and she did better than some of the 5-7 year olds. And Hani? DIGS the structure and manners and rules. Such clearly defined boundaries. A place to take out some of her pent up feelings. Boat loads of positive feedback. It is perfect for her. Kai is still too little... but he stands in the back and does warm up with everyone.

*Did I mention there is no way on earth that Hani is really only 4 1/2? A couple of weeks ago I was doing Mer's hair and Hani came down and asked for breakfast. I told her she could get out the stuff for cereal and call me when she was ready. She didn't call, so I went to check. She was sitting at the table eating her cereal and milk. She had even already put away the milk jug (which was full, by the way) and the cereal box. That combined with her desperate pleas to be able to go to school all day and her increasingly advanced sense of humor make me think she is 6 or 6 1/2. Oh, and the fact that she is still growing at least 3/4 of an inch a month.

* Meron turned 4!!! Much excitement.... I now have two 4 year olds and a 3 year old. The local college's home coming parade happens to be held right around the day of her birthday every year. And it happens to go right past Nathan's gym. It is kind of a perfect location for a party... big, open, padded, lots of fun equipment... free... We had a lovely time. Meron got to have friends come for the first time, which was great. We had weird pizza (spaghetti pizza, chili pizza, pot roast pizza complete with mashed potatoes, gravy and corn) for lunch per her request. We also had a dance party. And she got a really cool doll from Ethiopia. And some other cool dolls, books and clothes, along with a puzzle that has proved to be a LOT of fun. And a purple bike with a bell. At the end of the party she came up to me and Nathan and said, "Thank you Mommy and Daddy for my party. I had really really fun." Melt me.


And pictures... thankfully my parents had a camera for the party and generously let me borrow it.

The birthday girl. Oh, my heart. Where did my baby go?



We love a parade...

"Obstacle course" in the gym. Pretty fun. Plus they were pretending to be giant turtles with blue shells. Plus, since the party was preceded by a two hour long parade, I didn't have to supply candy.

Meron wanted a purple butterfly cake. Grammy delivers.

My Hani... getting so big, and prettier every day. The party was hard for her. She hasn't had a birthday party... ever. Her birthday was about two weeks before we brought her home. She is extremely competitive with Meron. All these things led to some pretty rough days coming up to the party. We actually had a contingency plan for Nathan and I tagging off walking with her outside during the party if it got to be too much. But she was awesome. She did great, even when Mer got a new bike. I was so proud of her.

Bike helmet... way cute. Riding her new bike in her fluffy purple party dress... even cuter.

Meron and Rahel.

The face Malakai makes when I ask him to smile so I can take a picture.
His real smile. Such a handsome devil.

My three babies... on their way to be greeters at church with Grammy and Papa... we practiced saying "Good morning! Welcome!" all morning.