So here we are at our fourth June together and we realized we had NO professional pictures and no non-holiday related pictures of us for the dossier. Enter my friend's sister who is raising funds for a mission trip to an orphanage!! She and her husband were offering picture taking sessions for a donation to their mission trip! WIN-WIN situation to us! I hate, hate having my picture taken....it is hard for me to look natural when it is an un-natural setting....yeah, I never did well at those role-playing exercises in school either. and Besides, is any female ever happy with a picture?? I digress......
There were lots of just fun ones that I like because they show personality and there were some ones that are good for the dossier so Mission Accomplished...check it off the list. I am posting these for the grandparents and Aunts and Uncles to pick so I can deliver on our trips...so excuse the "too many" part of the pictures....thanks!
There were lots of just fun ones that I like because they show personality and there were some ones that are good for the dossier so Mission Accomplished...check it off the list. I am posting these for the grandparents and Aunts and Uncles to pick so I can deliver on our trips...so excuse the "too many" part of the pictures....thanks!
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OK, this one below KILLS me....for some reason Nick wanted to take his glasses off...I love my boys eyes but oh my oh my, he looks 12 or older...such a soul-full look. I will say that as his mom, I can totally tell he is holding a smile in.....so glad that is the case! :)
I prefer my "actually looks 6 years old" boy below. So handsome and so cute and not so darn teenager-y looking! ;)
Now onto at least a short post(kind of) :) .....I am so behind.....
Stop the train....time is flying by but yet there are days it feels as if the day will never end. I cannot believe it is June. It just feels like yesterday that we started school and now my boy has finished Kindergarten and will be a first grader in the fall. I have to admit I was a little teary saying good bye to his teachers. I always am.....He has come soooooo far this year. He has accomplished so much. Teachers Rock! I always wish I could take them back to the beginning with us and they would feel so much more accomplishment in how they have helped bring our boy so far. AMAZING. We are just really enjoying his reading skills and he "acts" out the books and expressions as he reads them. Hilarious. I think I have mentioned before that we are now huge Mo Willem Fans (Knuffle Bunny). The Piggie and Elephant series particularly. LOVE THEM! So, on to first grade we go. He was past the benchmark in every area except one and that one he met the benchmark but just didn't go past.
We have had two sessions with his counselor and it is really a blessing to have someone in the trenches with us when we are having a hard day or two or three. She has an adoptive son and totally gets us and what we are dealing with. It is amazing how what we are doing with the OT and what we are doing with the counselor are totally connected in many ways. I will try to post more detail one of these days.
My computer screen broke thanks to a blind and clumsy dog but bless his heart, I kind of left it in a not so good place and well, nudge, crash, and no computer. We did not lose anything as the hard drive is safe but I don't have access to pictures yet except for the ones I posted above because they are on a disk. It has put a big damper on my blog reading (I don't have my favorites selection) and writing but sometimes a break is good, I guess! ;)
We had lots of school parties and activities which kept us fairly chaotic the last few weeks. I have lots of pics. I will share eventually.
On the adoption front, we are progressing thru the dossier steps. Pretty straight forward process. A few differences from Kaz but the best difference is that apparently we dont have to get FBI fingerprints....yippee. We are waiting for our appt with Immigration for our I800 fingerprints but I was dreading the local police department. Although I will say, we needed a criminal record letter from them and they did it for free!! We were able to use this instead of updating our state criminal record check which costs $$.....the states notary expired in Nov...would not have lasted thru the adoption...grrrr! So many crazy details to keep up with regarding dates and expirations....so mindless yet soo important to pay attention to at this time. I need to check with the agency before we start our summer travel. I am so less annoying this time around. I rarely even email them unless I need them to approve a document before we put it in the apostille pile. I figure they will contact me if they need to find out something?? I guess when our dossier is finished I will get more into the game! The psych eval went smoothly and we had a great Dr. He was really interested and kind. The computer test was crazy long and painfully tedious. 560+ questions. ugh!
My computer screen broke thanks to a blind and clumsy dog but bless his heart, I kind of left it in a not so good place and well, nudge, crash, and no computer. We did not lose anything as the hard drive is safe but I don't have access to pictures yet except for the ones I posted above because they are on a disk. It has put a big damper on my blog reading (I don't have my favorites selection) and writing but sometimes a break is good, I guess! ;)
We had lots of school parties and activities which kept us fairly chaotic the last few weeks. I have lots of pics. I will share eventually.
On the adoption front, we are progressing thru the dossier steps. Pretty straight forward process. A few differences from Kaz but the best difference is that apparently we dont have to get FBI fingerprints....yippee. We are waiting for our appt with Immigration for our I800 fingerprints but I was dreading the local police department. Although I will say, we needed a criminal record letter from them and they did it for free!! We were able to use this instead of updating our state criminal record check which costs $$.....the states notary expired in Nov...would not have lasted thru the adoption...grrrr! So many crazy details to keep up with regarding dates and expirations....so mindless yet soo important to pay attention to at this time. I need to check with the agency before we start our summer travel. I am so less annoying this time around. I rarely even email them unless I need them to approve a document before we put it in the apostille pile. I figure they will contact me if they need to find out something?? I guess when our dossier is finished I will get more into the game! The psych eval went smoothly and we had a great Dr. He was really interested and kind. The computer test was crazy long and painfully tedious. 560+ questions. ugh!
We are getting excited for Kazapalooza and I have been busy with the Tshirt design, welcome bags, and nametags.....our living room is full of boxes for assembly at KP....Pat will be glad when it is over and our living room can be cleaned. I personally don't mind having an excuse for the mess when friends drop by! ;) oh, sorry for the mess, all this KP stuff everywhere, wink,wink!
Hope everyone is having a great summer. Some school districts around here are just getting out due to all of the snow days! We have almost survived our first week out and doing pretty well so far although it was so much easier getting my allergy shots without Nick telling (and trying to help) the nurse to push it in! Love ya son! ;) Happy Summer to all!
10 comments:
hey, girl! We are big Mo Willems fans too. Have you all read "Naked Mole Rat Gets Dressed"? It is our all-time fave. We have different parts that we play as we read it. We Love Knuffle Bunny too. Ty sleeps with Knuffle Bunny at night.
We had our pics taken this weekend too. They are huge files so I can't figure out how to upload to FB, but we were really happy with them. You all have some stunning family shots!
Sorry things didn't work out Wednesday. Hope to see you SOON!
Hey lovey. Popped by for a hia! The photos are great. My you guys look great. I love the photos - all of them. The black and white of Nick on his own - in a word wowy - what a handsome little boy - yes he does look older but the fact you still saw the glimpse of a grin (and child) is encouraging.
so looking forward to catching up next weekend.
mk
I was just catching up on some blogs instead of packing for Kazapalooza like I should be. Nick does look very grown up in that one picture. They do grow up in a hurry. Berik has a couple of photos like that too. Kazapalooza stuff all over the living room sounds like fun and I can't wait to see it all ! Thanks for all your hard work in advance! Gena Lloyd
Can't wait til Kazapalooza! Thanks in advance for all your hard work :) . Your pictures are really good especially the black and white one of Nick,even though he does look older there. We have a couple of Berik that are like that as well and it's so amazing how quickly they grow up. See you at Kaza. Gena Lloyd
Silly blogger, it told me I couldn't post the first comment so I posted it a different way and now you have two of those and one of these explaining the two of those. Gena
Hey guys! Thanks so much for your comment - we're super excited about China, too :) The photos are adorable, and congrats on your next one as well!
I think the pics are great - but I do agree it's hard to look natural in a fake setting.
Sounds like you are making great progress with the sibling adoption. I sympathize with the finger printing avoidance - I always have to repeat mine because I don't have adequate swirls. I guess I never have to worry about leaving prints behind.
Have a wonderful summer. Akiva is in school til the 3rd week in July!
No kindergarten for him - he went right to first grade, which I think is pushing it a bit, but that's how the system works here.
Great to see an update! I sure wish we could have come to Kazapalooza. Maybe we will make one in the future.
Your son is so handsome, I agree, I like the ones with his glasses, he looks happy.
When you mention counselor, is this a therapist or school counselor you use?
Love the photos - and you are right - Nick looks so different in the one where he took off his glasses!!
Hope ye had a great time at Kazapalooza..dying to read about it! How I wish I could go!!!
The pictures are just beautiful. I hope you framed 'em all. Nick is such a handsome little boy. And how much he's progressed in a year. All your hard work is paying off. :-)
Speaking of hard work, thanks again for all your Palooza efforts. It really was a wonderful weekend. Oh BTW our shirts were waiting for us upon our return. It was my first package at the new house.
Can't wait to do a Karen/Kanita weekend sometime soon.
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