Last Year...

about this time we were celebrating getting our court date and beginning our travel plans for trip two. What an exciting time it was for us after waiting 5 months to get all the details worked out. Well the kids are all in school and doing very well. Kristina is working hard on getting caught up on math/counting and John seems to be fitting in with his peers in Kindergarden. Keegan is working hard at school and seems to be doing well with his grades. What a difference a year makes!

Our Sweet Cheerleader.......Another first......

Who would have ever guessed that our sweet Kristina would be a cheerleader after only being in this country for ten months?

Her first game was this past Saturday!

Push ups after the team scores! One for every point scored!

Boy are we proud of her! Isn't she beautiful?

First few days of school........

First day of school - 08/17/10.

2nd day of school 08/24/2010

First day 08/17/2010

Today - not being very co-operative with his big brother!

Kristina loves her big brother and taking pictures! 08/24/2010

First day of school 08/17/2010

First day of classes 08/23/2010. I have been taking these pictures for 12 years now and he balks but always lets me take them!

Sun shining the first day 08/17/2010

Well school is in swing for three of the kids now! John is in kindergarten, Kristina is second grade, and Keegan is a Junior in high school. So far so good! Everyone has come home happy. John came home the first day saying he made new friends. Kristina came home saying her teacher was really nice and has new kids in her class this year. (Her school has three second grade classes). Keegan came home and said it felt like he was just there the day before. i guess when you get older - your comments about your first day aren't as much fun!

10 Months.....

Well the kids have been with us for 10 months now. We decided to sign Kristina up for cheerleading with the football organization that I have been coaching with for the last 20 years. Its a great program and this is the first year that they were having an 8 year old cheer team. We felt that it would be a great way for Kristina to socialize and for her to use and build on her new English vocabulary. We were somewhat unsure of how quick she would pick up on the cheers, boy were we suprised. The team has a total of 75 cheers they have to learn and they have learned about 40 in the last three weeks. Saturday was their first game. They did about 25 different cheers and their halftime routine for us. Kristina did awesome! She knew all the cheers and movements and was shouting out the english words. Here is some video.....

PS...Kristina is in the Front row in the middle of this video. She is the one with the brown hair....

Another First...

Well Saturday we had a birthday party to go to. The kids "cousin" Brian was turning 8 and his mom was throwing him a party at the bowling alley. Kristina asks...."What's Bowling dad?" I explained that it was a game where you throw a ball at pins and get points for how many you knock down. She says "Oh OK" with a puzzled look on her face. So off to the bowling alley we go...Of course no one else there understands that the kids have no idea what bowling is. Someone says..."come on let's get you your shoes..." John points at his feet and sayS..."I have my shoes on!"...LOL! So they get their shoes on and find a couple of light balls and away we go...They had a blast. Of course, we put the bumpers up and there was a boys lane and a girl lane...man did they have fun! Here are the pics...

How cool is that?

Keegan gets to play his first Varsity Football game at Soldier Field in Chicago. Home of the 1985 Superbowl Champs, Chicago Bears. How cool is that? He gets to play on the same field as my all time favorite football player and childhood hero, Walter Payton. Keegan we are so super proud of you! Go Providence Celtics!

FRUA Picnic

Hi all I know its been a while since I/we have blogged. Not a whole lot has been going on. The kids continue to do great and their English continues to improve while their vocabulary expands. They both have taken to swimming and love to spend as much time as possible in the water. Of course mom and dad are learning how to deal with raising siblings. Sunday we went to the annual Illinois FRUA (Families for Russian and Ukrainian Adoption) picnic. We had a great time catching up with some of the families that we have met over the last couple of years at the groups events. The picnic was held at a beautiful park in West Dundee, Illinois that has a petting zoo, playgrounds and picnic grove. Below are pics of the kids feeding the animals in the petting zoo. A couple of pictures of the kids posing for the group picture of all of the adopted children and then a group photo of all of the adopted kids. There was plenty of authentic Russian and Eastern European food served and a great time was had by all.