Tagged

This is the first time I've been tagged and I got it twice--from Jennifer at http://littleboydove.blogspot.com/ and from Christy at http://lifeafterukraine.blogspot.com/!

Seven random or weird things about me:

1--I've eaten a chocolate-covered cricket (my husband would say this goes to show I'll eat ANYTHING with chocolate! LOL)

2--My least favorite job as a parent is brushing teeth. I prefer dealing with vomit to brushing my boys' teeth. Neverless, I do it every night (unless Mark's home) because I know it's important.

3--I bite my nails when I'm excited or anxious, but usually only the ones on my left hand. Why? Well, my right hand is usually using the mouse. ;)

4--I have a lifetime certification as a canoeing instructor.

5--I only like crispy french fries and crispy bacon. I pass the soggy ones to Mark (who likes them--we're a perfect match!).

6--I don't wear makeup. Every once in a while I try it out again (usually for an evening event), but it just takes too long and I'd rather be sleeping in the morning. ;)

7--My favorite beverages are Dr. Pepper and Kahlua (not together--and Dr. Pepper will win out over Kahlua 9 times out of 10).

And now, to tag 7 others:

Julie
Katie
Meghan
Debbie
Missy
Thuy
Monica (private blog)

If you've already participated or don't do tags, please don't feel you need to participate. I just tagged people I'd like to hear some random things about. :)

Moving on

We have confirmation that another family is adopting the two little girls we were hoping to adopt. They are 4 yo twins located in Estonia and we found them through Reece's Rainbow (as many of you already know since our name was linked to them!).

I have to confess that my heart is a little heavier than I anticipated over this. But at the same time I am very glad they will have a family. They've been in the orphanage basically since birth and it's high time they get a home and family to love them and care for them. Losing an adoption referral (even though we never actually had it) is not unlike a miscarriage to me. This is the third time we have had a potential adoption fall through over the past 5 years, and it's painful every time. Before I get any nasty comments, yes, I've experienced miscarriage too. In both cases you start to look towards the future, towards what might be changing in your life, and then all of those musings and hopings are gone in an instant.

So where do we go from here? Not sure, but I'll do my best to keep you posted (still waiting on news on the house ;)).

Vote

Cruise recap

The boys really did have a great time on the cruise, as did Mark and I. By the end, we were ready to go home and I think a 7-day cruise was just about perfect. We had increased incidences of bedwetting on the cruise due to increased water intake, and for future cruises I will invest in the "unlimited laundry" option (you pay a set fee and the cruise staff will do unlimited laundry for you for the week). That would have been much better than washing clothes out in the sink 4 days in a row. I did take detergent packets for the sink, so I was prepared, but it would have saved me a lot of time and frustration to not be washing things while on vacation. :)

The boys ate...and ate...and ate. And we weighed them the last day of the cruise and they had maybe each gained 2 lbs. I need to somehow get them to sit still for several days and load them up with food. Dima ate waffles with chocolate syrup nearly every morning (and no, they don't get anything near that at home) and they both had soup, fruit, an entree, and dessert every night. They are definitely good eaters--they're just also good metabolizers! LOL

We left from Ft. Lauderdale and visited Grand Turk, Tortola, St. Maarten, and Half Moon Cay. We ended up not doing any shore excursions and just spent LOTS of time on the beach, which we all loved. The boys have, however, decided they don't like the taste of saltwater. ;) I was really impressed with their swimming abilities and their confidence with their water wings--they were comfortable in the water even when they couldn't touch at all. Take the water wings off, though, and watch them sink! That lack of body fat means they don't float. ;)

The boys took 2- to 3-hour naps each day to enable them to stay up at night and see the evening show. Since we had the early dinner seating our shows didn't start until 9pm and there is no way I would let them stay up that late without a nap. Dima liked the singing and Zhenya LOVED the dancing. During one of the shows, after every song he would turn to Mark and ask "more dancing?".

All in all it was a really great trip and I would definitely do it again!

The cruise in pictures

These pictures are post-Club HAL, the kids' area with lots of fun activities (aka free babysitting ;)). After this first night, the boys were begging to go up there every day. My little pirates:

We tried really hard to fatten the boys up on this trip. Absolutely unlimited food, and we encouraged ice cream after lunch AND dinner every day (provided their behavior during the day was acceptable--they both lost ice cream one meal). I think they're ready to go on a cruise again just for the ice cream!

The cruise in pictures II

First time in the ocean...

They LOVED it!!
Learning to play pingpong with Papa and Grandpa (Papa had some interesting expressions during the lessons):

The cruise in pictures III

No sensory issues here...

Swimming in the ocean some more: The beach bums