Soccer!

My sweet Lemon started soccer this year. Orange is also playing again on the same team she was on in the Spring. We love her team. This year they added another player, refs and the coach isn't allowed to be on the field. She is having a ton of fun this year with it. In fact, he first game, she scored 5 goals. Mind you, this hasn't happened again but at the time she was pretty proud of herself. She told me after the game that everyone loves her because she is the best soccer player and that she scored most of the goals so she is the greatest!! Needless to say, we had a long talk about what T-E-A-M means:-) Her modesty has improved since then!!!

Lemon's games are hilarious. Comedy at its best. If you want a good laugh, go watch 3/4 year old soccer games..they do not disappoint. Lemon is all about running with that ball except when she feels like standing there and looking for weeds:-)
Here is Lemon before her first practice and then her first game..she was pretty proud of herself!!

Michigan

Oops, this is what happens when you wait months to blog about things...you forget! Before the wedding, we were able to meet some close family friends up in Michigan at a beach house they were borrowing. The girls had a blast with their sort of cousins. The house had an indoor pool and was right on the beach so we were able to do both. They played hard. What I loved the most was seeing these kids who don't get to see eachother often at all, act as though they see one another every day. These people have been in my life since I was a little girl. They are not "family" in the sense that we are related in any way...but they are FAMILY!!!

The End of Summer

I know...I am on a roll!! Don't mention it or I may stop! So, we get back from vacation only to jump right back into the swing of things with school. Right before school started, we celebrated Lemon's 4th birthday. Well...her 4th birthday on paper. Her "true" birthday is 9/18 but we celebrate on her paper one...makes it a bit easier. She doesn't know this yet, when she is older we'll discuss!



Celebrating with her family out for dinner!



Lemon's party wouldn't be for a couple of weeks. We were having a combo party with her bestie again!

That week, we made some changes around here regarding sleeping arrangements as well. The girls have their own rooms but for months have slept together. I learned later in the summer that Orange was waking Lemon up very early every day. I warned her that it needed to stop or I would separate them again. See...my little Lemon needs tons of sleep. I started to think that some of her behavior might really have to do with this. Needless to say, Orange did not heed my warning and they were separated. I got a clock for Lemon that glows green when she can get out of bed. The first night she actually got up every 2 hours to tell me her clock was not yet green. I thought I was going to punch her! By night 3 she had it down pat! I have to lay with her for a bit before bed now but she is doing great. Two big pluses to our doing this. First, Orange can now go to bed later and we have some alone time...we read together and just hang out. Second, Lemon gets more sleep...and I think better sleep. Her moods have improved quite a bit.

During that week, Orange started in 1st grade. She was so excited. Did tell me on the first day that she is not excited about homework. I explained that she best get excited as she has A LOT of school left in her lifetime.  We love her teacher this year just like we loved her teacher last year. The best part for me is that this teacher taught her bestie for 2 years. She fully gets the older adoption aspect of things. This is so refreshing. We don't have any worries!!
Lemon started in pre-K. We have a new teacher this year (thank freaking g-d). To say that last year was a bit awful is an understatement. It was horrendous. The teacher this year impressed me in the first 10 seconds of meeting her. I think she actually likes children...what a concept!!! Lemon was excited too. She couldn't wait for her buddy Z. to be in her class. She also couldn't wait to be the big girl this year.
Here are the girls the first day of this year....

An update on this year thus far...
Orange is doing well. She is an angel at school, always participates and wants to learn. The teacher adores her. She is struggling some with reading...mainly the vocabulary part of reading. It still amazes me how many words she still doesn't know. It is easy to forget since she is fluent in speaking. But...so much of reading is understanding the words. We are working on this. The great thing is that she loves to learn and I know she'll do just fine. Her teacher has no concerns as she watched Orange's BFF go through this as well and understands that it just takes time. Oh and homework is going fine:)! Orange has been the golden start at school twice now. This means that she is excelling in Hebrew class. This girl can learn languages I tell you!

My Golden Star

Lemon is doing great too. Her teacher is amazing. I am so much less stressed out going to school in the mornings this year. The teacher is kind, nurturing and loves her kiddos. Lemon is learning so much this year, and loves to go to school every day. She is a little leader in class and is just a joy to watch right now. Her little brain is a sponge this year. I think when you have a teacher that nurtures you and actually enjoys you...it makes learning a whole lot more fun!! I can't even explain the relief I feel this year. At the first Shabbat at school, they sang happy birthday to her...she cried (I think she got embarrassed). Her teacher actually got on the floor and consoled her. WOW!!! Yes, that is how awful last year was...phew is all I got!!

Wordless Wednesday

Meeting an Old Friend!!

Oh my, do I need someone to force me to blog. My children are going to have no memories of their childhood if I don’t start. I am a horrible Mother!!

Ok…so on with our vacation which was 2 months agoJ We spent the week up with family before the wedding. We did a lot of fun stuff…went to the children’s museum again, went to a splash pad, hung out with friends, ate Ethiopian food again (twice)…and just enjoyed being together.

One major plus to this trip was FINALLY meeting a friend in person. You ask, how is she a friend if you’ve never met…well, she and I started talking back when I started my process for Lemon. She went through the loss of my first referral with me, we went through bringing home our daughters together. We then went through another adoption together for our second children. I unfortunately went through the loss of her referral the 2^nd time around…and we celebrated bringing our kids home once again. So…as you can see, we are friends!!! It was so nice to finally meet her face to face. To see her girls and my girls together.

I hope we get to do this again one day soon…but actually spend more time with one another!!!

Lemon and M.

Orange and M.

HERE WE ARE...in the same room!

Just some more friends we ate with!!

The Wedding!

The girls were in my cousin's wedding right after culture camp. It was ironic. I was her Mother's flower girl and woke up the day of that wedding with a fever. I walked the aisle anyways but was miserable. Lemon decided to be up about half the night before the wedding with a full fledged cold. She still sucks her thumb so when she can't breathe, she can't suck her thumb. This in turn caused us to not sleep from about 2-5 in the morning. She was miserable but walked the aisle anyways...a full circle!! The girls looked beautiful and had the greatest time ever. They LOVED the dresses, the flowers, the dancing...they loved it all. They also love their cousin. She is the cousin that traveled to Ethiopia with me when I brought Orange home!!! Here are some pics from the wedding...I will blog (I promise)...soon about the week between camp and the wedding. We did a lot of fun things with some great people!!

Culture Camp!

I may just push blogger over the edge because I plan to blog this weekend about our trip. That could mean more than one blog post a month!! HOLY COW!!

We had a great time on vacation. The first weekend was spent with other adoptive Momma's at the Ethiopian culture camp. We didn't stay at the lodge this year (thank g-d). We moved on up in the world to a hotel. It was great. The girls slept, the Mom's had some drinks in the hall and talked...we had a hot shower and air conditioning. Oh...and we met interesting drunk 57 year old ladies in the hall. The woman sat down and had a drink with us and ended up trying to discuss the whole single mom...adoption and religion thing. It was comical to say the least!!

Camp was again very unorganized but still fun. The girls had a great time with the activities this year. Orange really seemed to get it this year. She asked a lot of questions and was very excited that all the kids there were from Ethiopia. I feel like she got a lot out of the experience. Lemon is still a little too young but still had fun playing with the kids. I really enjoyed talking to the older adoptees and learning their stories.

This year they had an injera lesson which was great... we bought a cookbook and a starter kit. I am hoping we can one day be successful in cooking injera that doesn't taste like cardboard and explode all over the kitchen (maybe I am too optimistic..but we can hope:-)

At one point during one of the younger kid sessions, a little girl next to Lemon overheard me say to her something about her Mom in Ethiopia. This little girl sat straight up and said...she is from Ethiopia. I said yep, she is...the little girl said..I am adopted from Ethiopia too...and her face lit up. It was hilarious and so sweet at the same time!! Kids...

                                          Here are a TON of pictures..sorry for the overload!!