Coiffeur du jour

Cooper makes house calls too - and he didn't even have any training!
Would you like him to come to your home and give you a fabulous haircut?

See what he can do:

(please ignore his milk moustache!)

Kara was NOT a happy girl!

T-Ball Comedy

The little dude is now playing T-Ball and it's HILARIOUS!!

You wanna see something funny?  Check out this video of him hitting his very first ball and skipping to first base!

Our Easter Angels

Kara started out terrified but warmed up after a little while of watching other kids.
Cooper was all about trying to figure out who it was in the costume!

Another 6 months

Another 6 months have passed so we've taken our biannual photo of the kids holding hands -
Here you go - they're getting bigger everyday!

Wordless Wednesday

A Pretty for Mommy

A new friend, Melanie Welsh, created this FAB necklace for me! 
Check it out!

This is a poker chip necklace that she created.  She's sooooo talented and it was great fun to help her customize it.

If you haven't figured it out yet, it says Mom in Russian with the kids names and their adoption date on the back.

I LOVE LOVE LOVE it!

Here's her info if you're interested:  http://www.prettypigtailthings.com/ and she's on Facebook too.

She can create anything you want on it!

Thanks Melanie - I've gotten a million compliments on it!

Variations of Discipline

The whole scaring, growling, pretending to be mad, etc. has come to a screeching halt.
We have been much more firm and have given him consequences for his negative behaviour and have followed through with: no park today (for not listening to teachers), taking the costumes away (for scaring sister), time outs, etc. for various other things.  We're firm but put the blame back on him by saying, "Wow, sorry you chose not to listen to your teacher, it's a shame we won't be able to go to the park this evening..." 
I know this doesn't work on every kid - especially those with impulse control issues or ADHD, etc. but Cooper can control his actions or suffer the consequences.
It's totally worked - duh, right?! 
Well, he's been so good up until this point, we've not really had to do anything too drastic!
So now we know. 
We're basically following the Love and Logic technique - I love this way of thinking, it's so, uh, logical!
Every day when I pick them up from school, they say, "I didn't get any write-ups today!!"  and they're so proud.  Of course I make a big deal of it and the teacher does too saying that they tried really hard today and succeeded!  I call Jim on the way home and tell him how good they were - loudly of course!
Cooper's teacher said she felt he has made a leap forward with maturity this past week or so... we felt the same thing.  Hmmmm, could discipline be the answer?!

Kara is doing well too.  Her biting has almost completely stopped.  I talk to her everyday and say, "What will you do if someone makes you mad?"  She'll say, "Not bite.  Say NO! and tell the teacher."  It's definitely gotten better.  The school director says her behaviour is completely normal for a 3 year old.  They are still working out how to deal with strong emotions at this age but that talking to her about it every day will help.
She continues to be a genuinly sweet, loving child and only wants to please others.
There are rare times that we have to put her in time-out and that's when she runs away from us for some reason.  She's a runner, that one.   We're working on it and it's getting better.

Here are some random pics of the kids -

Cooper working on his computer (Cool School)

Kara taking Pink for a walk

Cooper, Kara and Me on a camel at the rodeo!