We are still here, very busy though. Lots of family activities and still cleaning up around the house. I finished our bedroom over the weekend. We took out a dresser, and overhauled my closet. I completed Olena's room tonight. I was able to get rid of 4 garbage bags of stuff. I went through all of the art supplies, condensed and trashed what wasn't good anymore. I threw away about 15 coloring books that were pretty much done with. Went through all the crayons and markers, and restocked.
She has a habit of being a nicknac collector and has somehow ended up with millions of little tiny toys all over the place. This drives me nuts. Got rid of most of it and what I did keep went into plastic shoe boxes which I plan to label tonight so she can start to practice her reading! Anyhow after going through all of the art supplies, I tackled the games - reorganized them, put stuff into little zip locks, and reboxed a few. I also managed to empty and remove the toy box from her room which I am really happy about. I had some extra rubbermade drawers so I put those in her closet and used that for what toys I did keep. In the end I had 2 bags of garbage, and 2 donation bags, plus 2 small bags (one for her school and one for a coworker) Now I'm pooped!
I am also getting ready to label my home. What you ask?? I am going to write out the words from around the house on labels so that Olena can start to identify the spelling of these objects. She is such a book worm and will spend hours a night just going through all of her books. I think that reading will come easy to her because she enjoys it so much. We have been working on spelling 3 letter words and she does very well and has a pretty good memory. Hopefully this will spark her interest a little.
My sweet little angel has been doing very well but seems to have acquired quite a knack for being sassy. I was reading Tonya's post about Lyra's smart mouth and it felt good to know we weren't alone. She is not into name calling or using bad words, but she like to be sarcastic and talks back. I never laugh in front of her but she keeps me in stitches. She is so cute about it, and it is great to see her comprehend at that level, especially when she comes up with a funny sarcastic comeback. She is talking conversational now, though still a rough around the edges with her pronunciation. I usually have to translate for everyone but she getting better. She tries to talk to fast, which I unfortunately think comes from me because that is how I talk...(and type) which is making her stutter a little bit again but I am confident it will all pass. The difference with her stuttering this time though is that she is starting to get mad and frustrated about it. Before she did even seem to notice but time around she does, and she's not happy about it. I let her work it out for a few and if she gets too upset I make her stop, and we relax for a few minutes and start again.
She is very excited about fall this year and Halloween. This week she tie dyed orange and white shirts, we made caramel apples (which are fabulous, I started eating mine today!), we carved a pumpkin (well daddy did, Olena cleaned and we watch The Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown)
and we fed the squirrels! We had some crushed corn so we had to go around to all of trees and make little wells with corn in them. The next morning my entire yard was flooded with Squirrels and they were all fighting each other, it was quite the site. Olena and I sat in front the screen door for about 20 minutes that morning just watching them all! We are learning about hibernation right now so she is very interested in squirrels. We had to bring on the hibernation conversation because the famous Mr. Turtle had to make a "trip" to the pond near Nina's house so that he could hibernate for the winter. Jason was so worried she would be upset but we all walked down there together, said our Goodbyes and set him in the pond. He sat there and watched us for awhile and then we turned away for a second and he was gone. Hopefully by Spring she'll forget about him but I am not sure how lucky I'll be with that. She still talks about him and how he's going to live in the pond under the ice until spring!
Before I end for the night I'd like to say Congratulations to 3 wonderful ladies and thier families. Tonya, my SIL Jennifer and Helen (Gene's/our translator/ wife). Both are pregnant and expecting late spring/early summer. Olena and I will be sure to keep you all in our prayers for a happy and healthy pregnancy! babies babies everywhere. Maybe we'll be next?
She has a habit of being a nicknac collector and has somehow ended up with millions of little tiny toys all over the place. This drives me nuts. Got rid of most of it and what I did keep went into plastic shoe boxes which I plan to label tonight so she can start to practice her reading! Anyhow after going through all of the art supplies, I tackled the games - reorganized them, put stuff into little zip locks, and reboxed a few. I also managed to empty and remove the toy box from her room which I am really happy about. I had some extra rubbermade drawers so I put those in her closet and used that for what toys I did keep. In the end I had 2 bags of garbage, and 2 donation bags, plus 2 small bags (one for her school and one for a coworker) Now I'm pooped!
I am also getting ready to label my home. What you ask?? I am going to write out the words from around the house on labels so that Olena can start to identify the spelling of these objects. She is such a book worm and will spend hours a night just going through all of her books. I think that reading will come easy to her because she enjoys it so much. We have been working on spelling 3 letter words and she does very well and has a pretty good memory. Hopefully this will spark her interest a little.
My sweet little angel has been doing very well but seems to have acquired quite a knack for being sassy. I was reading Tonya's post about Lyra's smart mouth and it felt good to know we weren't alone. She is not into name calling or using bad words, but she like to be sarcastic and talks back. I never laugh in front of her but she keeps me in stitches. She is so cute about it, and it is great to see her comprehend at that level, especially when she comes up with a funny sarcastic comeback. She is talking conversational now, though still a rough around the edges with her pronunciation. I usually have to translate for everyone but she getting better. She tries to talk to fast, which I unfortunately think comes from me because that is how I talk...(and type) which is making her stutter a little bit again but I am confident it will all pass. The difference with her stuttering this time though is that she is starting to get mad and frustrated about it. Before she did even seem to notice but time around she does, and she's not happy about it. I let her work it out for a few and if she gets too upset I make her stop, and we relax for a few minutes and start again.
She is very excited about fall this year and Halloween. This week she tie dyed orange and white shirts, we made caramel apples (which are fabulous, I started eating mine today!), we carved a pumpkin (well daddy did, Olena cleaned and we watch The Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown)
and we fed the squirrels! We had some crushed corn so we had to go around to all of trees and make little wells with corn in them. The next morning my entire yard was flooded with Squirrels and they were all fighting each other, it was quite the site. Olena and I sat in front the screen door for about 20 minutes that morning just watching them all! We are learning about hibernation right now so she is very interested in squirrels. We had to bring on the hibernation conversation because the famous Mr. Turtle had to make a "trip" to the pond near Nina's house so that he could hibernate for the winter. Jason was so worried she would be upset but we all walked down there together, said our Goodbyes and set him in the pond. He sat there and watched us for awhile and then we turned away for a second and he was gone. Hopefully by Spring she'll forget about him but I am not sure how lucky I'll be with that. She still talks about him and how he's going to live in the pond under the ice until spring!
Before I end for the night I'd like to say Congratulations to 3 wonderful ladies and thier families. Tonya, my SIL Jennifer and Helen (Gene's/our translator/ wife). Both are pregnant and expecting late spring/early summer. Olena and I will be sure to keep you all in our prayers for a happy and healthy pregnancy! babies babies everywhere. Maybe we'll be next?
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