Volleyball Season 2011

Jordan's 8th grade volleyball season is coming to an end tonight. She has been a starting setter for the 14-girl team and did awesome!! As I watched her this past weekend in the Little Chute volleyball tournament, I kept thinking that this would be the last time I would HAVE to go the the middle school volleyball games. Next year, Jordan will be in high school! WOW!

And you can't forget the fans...

 

Great Job Jordan!! Can't wait for next year!

Youth Hunt 2011

Even though Noah had a football playoff game on Saturday night, he still talked his Dad into going out hunting on Saturday and Sunday morning and Sunday evening (with Jordan). Noah bagged this 9-point buck on Sunday night! WAY TO GO, NOAH!!!

Wordless Wednesday...

Sunday Sweetness...

Homecoming 2011

This past week, Cassie participated in all the Homecoming festivities at her school. She went float-building, played powder puff football, watched the boys volleyball games, marched in the parade and at halftime of the football game, and then went to the dance Saturday night.

Of course, I had to take some pictures of Cassie all dressed up, so the other kids needed to get into the action too!

We're Home...

We’re home! Tinsae and I arrived in the Appleton airport at 4:05pm on Saturday, September 25^th.  It felt so good to be home, giving hugs to my family, and breathing a sigh of relief that Tinsae was finally in America!

Tinsae had 3 meltdowns on our flight from Ethiopia to Germany. We ended up leaving Ethiopia 40 minutes late, which really made a big difference to Tinsae while waiting to get on the airplane. He didn't fall asleep until close to 2:30am, which seemed like an eternity to me! LOL! We had a little over than 2 hour layover in Germany and got stuck in some really crappy security boarding lines. Nobody was given boarding tickets for the flight to Chicago until after they went through some very thorough questioning by ticket agents. REALLY FRUSTRATING with a three year old! Again, Tinsae had 3 more meltdowns on the airplane, but he actually slept for about 3 hours. That was it. Out of 9 hours, he only slept for 3 hours. UGH!!! I maybe got a total of 2 hours of sleep the entire way home, so I was very short on patience. My head started pounding with about 4 hours left in the flight due to the shortage of caffeine (NO DIET DEW!).

When we arrived in Chicago at 10:30am, we headed through customs and immigration. We were detained into a different room in order for them to open the adoption packet. Didn't take too long, but TOO LONG for Tinsae. By 11:30am, we were standing in line at McDonald's. He ate his first chicken nuggets and french fries and used a straw for the very first time too! After 2 bottles of Diet Dew, I felt like a new person! We talked to the family many times before actually leaving Chicago at 3:20pm. We landed in Appleton a little late, but so worth it! It was SO AWESOME to see the family and get some hugs and kisses! So, so glad to be home!

Since then, I've been taking a lesson in learning what a 3 year old little boy likes, dislikes, wants, needs, and should never put in his little hands! LOL! We're learning. Slowly, but still learning! He is adorable and knows that if he gives us this little sly smile, he usually can get away with pretty much anything.

It has been trying, to say the least, to find our “new normal”. Tinsae is 3 years old. It has been a VERY LONG time since we have had a 3 year old in our home. We have all forgotten what it is like to have such a little one around 24/7. But, it is also hard to have such a little one that does not understand our language. Communication at times gets tricky and frustrating for everyone. Trying to set limits and rules gets overshadowed by trying to figure out what Tinsae understands.

Tinsae is trying new foods every day and tolerating all the cats and little dogs. Sammy the St. Bernard is another story. Tinsae is very afraid of him but was actually sitting approximately within 5 feet of him while playing with his legos. HUGE IMPROVEMENT!!! He's not too sure of the horses but the goats are fine. 

He loves to go on rides in the truck and van, and he DOESN'T like it when his big sisters and brothers go to school. The first day was crying, second day was whimpering, third day he slept through, and the fourth day he said “bye-bye”. Again, it’s a work in progress, but he does know that they come home later in the day.

Tinsae is sleeping with his big brother Muluken. The first night, Tinsae just cried and whined, so Noah had to rub his back until he fell asleep. The second night, Tinsae laid next to Muluken with no problems. The third and fourth night, he was sound asleep before Muluken even made it into the bed. Now, if we could only get Tinsae to sleep a little bit later (later than 5am) will be awesome! 

Cassie says that he cries like a goat. Actually, he just whines like one. LOL! He has a whine and then he has a cry that really means that something is wrong. He's already been to a football game, volleyball game, school, high school homecoming festivities, Walmart, the mall, and each Grandma's homes. He starts out shy and then gets more comfortable and smiles more. He's happy to go with his brothers and sisters (holding their hands) but when he gets overwhelmed, he wants Mommy! We've been battling nap time, but I think I've finally won! YEAH!

When Tinsae is fully comfortable, he has quite the little personality. He sings, dances, smiles, giggles, and even teases! He’s just so darn adorable!! I’ll write more about the trip later, but for now I’ll share a few pictures.

First Day of School Pics

I know, I know. We're almost a whole month into the school year, but I have not even posted the awesome first day of school pictures. So here it goes: