Time Flies

I've been a very bad blogger lately - there's just not enough hours in the day for this... I'll try to be better, I promise.

So, what's been going on in the last month? Tons.

Cooper
The boy is absolutely thriving. He talks nonstop about the strangest things. I actually had to google a bunch of his behaviour because, well, I've never had a 4 year old before and did not know if this was normal.

For example: His answer to my question of how his day went, would be: I was running, and BAM, went into the light and cut my finger off. It bleeding so I had to go to the hospididdle.

(Me:) What? When? (Cooper:) Yesterday - I had to go on the helicopter. (Me:) Really? Who drove the helicopter? (Cooper:) Me.

This is an everday occurance. Sometimes, there's fire involved, sometimes the police come. But he's dead serious when he's telling these stories and there's a lot of hand motions and expressions. According to everything I've read, he's very normal and has an active imagination. Whew! He's one crazy little boy.

Otherwise, he's playing soccer at school and loves it.

Kara

She's also thriving and doing very well. She's in the midst of potty training and we're discovering that she has tremendous will. She's perfected the phrase "NO, I do it" and will scream if she doesn't get her way. We're working on that, but again, I read that that's normal 2-3 year old behaviour. She plays well at school and per her teacher, she is not aggressive so she's pretty easy to manage. She loves computer time at school the best and now she's in dance (ballet and tap) - yeah, I know, she's not even out of diapers yet. I was guilted into enrolling her by the dance teacher who said, but all the other little girls are in it and she always wants to go... blah, blah, blah. Hmph. I didn't start dance until I was 7.

They're not perfect though.

About 3 weeks ago, they were playing in Cooper's room, right after their bath. Cooper went downstairs and said Look Papa! I could hear Jim say, Oh wow, go show your mom. I was upstairs and feared what was coming. My instinct was right. He came in to our bathroom, his hands and legs completely covered with blue and green markers. Then Kara cam in right behind him laughing away, looking just the same as he did. They both went right into the bath again.

2 weeks ago, I heard a lady downstairs (we were both upstairs). I went running downstairs and saw both kids on the sofa laying on their tummies talking to Jim's cell phone. Someone had climbed up, got Jim's blackberry, somehow dialed 911 and put it on speaker phone (which was at least nice of them). The lady on the phone was saying, Hello?? Hello?? 911 Dispatch, what's your emergency?? Kara was squealing with delight and Cooper was trying to talk to her.

Oh the fun toddlers bring...

Here are some updated photos.

Jim and Cooper on bumper boats

The Coopster posing

Cooper bossing Kara, Look this way - you can see how well she listens to him!

Kara trying on her Halloween costume, a fairy princess - she finally learns to pose! The little beauty in the bath

Napping? Nah...

We heard some noises coming from Kara's room towards the end of her naptime so Jim went in there to check on her. He asked me if I had done anything with her clothes. I had not. He said, get the camera and go see her, quick!

This is what I saw:

She had taken almost all of her clothes out of her dresser, separated all of her school uniforms by color and lined them all up on the floor...

They both line up everything they can find - I wonder what this means??

Growing Up

It's very exciting and rewarding to watch the kids grow and develop their own unique personalities but wow, I'll never get those old 'baby' days back - time is going too fast!

It's only been 10 months and look at the changes:

Kara - October 2008 - first week home

Kara today - sock hop day at school

Kara - 2nd week home - her 2nd birthday party

Kara - August 2009 - checking out her newly painted nails

Kara- October 2008

August 2009 - at the mall playground

Cooper - October 2008 - Little man


August 2009 - Sock Hop Day at school


Coop - August 2009- just waking up

Cooper - Handsome Devil at the mall playground

Cooper the Crazy Boy climbing the 'rocks' at the park



Cooper - this is the latest face I get when trying to take a pic




Kara looking quite Russian here!



This is what you get when you pass french fries and ketchup to the back of the car

Picture Post

Kara riding the carousel horse at the zoo after Julian's birthday party

Cooper sitting on the "sofa" as he calls it - he's still scared to go up and down on the horses!

Kara at Julian's birthday party at the zoo

Cooper and Kara at Julian's birthday party at the zoo

Kara and Cooper fight in the car at the mall

Cooper at the mall

Cooper and Kara sharing the stroller (had to get a pic of them playing nice)

again, sharing - Mom, look, I sharing! (Cooper)

C&K posing for the Alcalde Texas Ex book

Coop gets a haircut

C&K make a big mess at Papa's work

Coop rides his birthday bike

Coop can't wait for his nap

Kara at Evan's birthday party at Discovery Green Park

Cooper and Papa at Discovery Green Park

Kara at Discovery Green Park

Here we are in the AAI newsletter!

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AAI

Rockin' Out to the ABCs

Short video from my camera of the kids this morning -
They crack me up, especially Kara with the head banging!

Happy Birthday to Cooper!

We now have a 4 year old. He tells me everyday, "I big boy".

We had a big pool party for him with about 20 other kids and 20ish adults. It was a lot of fun and he only had 1 mini-meltdown at 10:30 at night when we told him he couldn't ride his bike upstairs. I didn't think we were being that unreasonable but the 4 year old did. So he received a bike and about a thousand other gifts that Kara promptly claimed - everything is Kara's you see. If she sees it, it's hers. All she has to say is Mine and poof, done. Of course, that starts an altercation with the 4 year old who says, NO, it not Kara's, it Cooper's and back and forth until someone ends up crying or I get a migraine, whichever comes first. It's all good though.

Back to the party~ Since it was his first real birthday party (we met them in Russia a week after his 3rd birthday) we probably went a little overboard but no regrets. It'll just be a lot more simple next time.

Here are some pics:

These balloons lasted all of about an hour in the 100+ Texas heat. We started with ~100 balloons blown up in the backyard and just about every 10 minutes, POP, it couldn't take it!

The MUCH-TOO-EXPENSIVE cake that did not even taste all that good. Live and learn.

I made this cake for his school party - it came out cute and Cooper loved it. The idea came from Family Fun - I really love their ideas.

This was from this morning, it's Luau Day at school today. I wonder if they'll roast a pig for lunch...

Wow!

It's been awhile! Happy belated 4th of July everyone!

My laptop broke TWICE - first the motherboard died then they had to do something with the harddrive. I don't know anything about the techie stuff but I'm glad it's fixed.

Kiddos update: They're doing G.R.E.A.T.

Cooper talks a mile a minute, non-stop, fairly good English. He knows a lot of numbers and all of his colors in Spanish. He holds onto two Russian words and uses them interchangibly with English - malenkie for small and bolna for hurt.

He was moved up to a class where his peers are the same age and that has helped him learn a lot more (not all good!).

We've been getting ready for his 4th birthday party and if he gets mad or doesn't get what he wants, he'll say, "you not coming to my birthday party!". It's really funny and hard not to laugh.

He takes gymnastics on Fridays and they have water works (water play) on Tuesdays and Fridays. He's active, funny, smart and healthy.

He loves trucks, tractors, swimming, all animals, and anything with buttons for pushing. He's a freak for our phones, the remote control and our computer!

Kara's words are coming along better as well. She was also moved up to a class where she's in the same age as the rest. It helped that they were in a younger class to begin with because they weren't so intimidated by the 'bigger' kids but now they're so comfortable, they absolutely love school and all their teachers. The transition from Gaby's class to Valerie's went pretty well. She cried for Gaby the first day when she saw her but all is well now. She gives Gaby hugs and kisses whenever she sees her at school.

She's is still very much a girly-girl and will always pick a dress over shorts to wear. (I love that about her). She is really comfortable in the pool and 'swims' by herself now. It's not truly swimming but she treads water alone while she has her floaty suit on. She continues to mimic every move Cooper makes.

Recently, we were having a dinner of chicken, mac & cheese and green beans. Kara was eating everything including the beans when Cooper announces that he doesn't like the beans. Kara immediately said yuck and pushed her plate away pointing at the beans. Little rat!

I can truly say they are very well adjusted and very normal 2+4 year olds and we thank God for them everyday.

Oh, we had playdates with fellow bloggers! Chris and Christian met us at the zoo and Susan and Artem came over to swim and have dinner! Both were so fun and we can't wait to do it again!

Here are some recent pics from the 4th of July in Chappell Hill, TX- a small town about an hour outside of Houston -