the Life of Olena

Christmas has come and gone and truthfully I am happy it is over. I hate to say that, but it turned out to be stressful and somewhat of a disappointment because I was unable to maintain the quite, calm and memorable holiday I was shooting for. It did end on a good note, and I am slowly recuperating but dreading the weeks ahead of taking down xmas decorations and reorganizing my storage in the basement. Olena had a great Christmas and as always she ended up with far more than she can deal with or ever need but she did get some wonderful gifts this year. Jason's dad got her a train table which she loves, my grandfather built her an amazing rocking horse, she got her own little tent, and even a bowling alley....yes I said alley. My parents got her a 7ft electronic bowling alley that even has a ball return. I must admit it is pretty sweet and I look forward to family bowling night at the Warchol's! :) At this point her favorite has been the Hot Wheels set . It has been the toy of c...

The noise and the bustle began earlier than usual in the village. As night gave way to dawn, people were already on the streets. Vendors were positioning themselves on the corner of the most heavily traveled avenues. Store owners were unlocking the doors to their shops. Children were awakened by the excited barking of the street dogs and the complaints of donkeys pulling carts. The owner of the inn had awakened earlier than most in the town. After all, the inn was full, all the beds taken. Every available mat or blanket had been put to use. Soon all the customers would be stirring and there would be a lot of work to do. One's imagination is kindled thinking about the conversation of the innkeeper and his family at the breakfast table. Did anyone mention the arrival of the young couple the night before? Did anyone ask about their welfare? Did anyone comment of the pregnancy of the girl on the donkey? Perhaps. Perhaps somebody raised the subject. But, at best, it was raised, not dis...

We try to incorporate traditional Ukrainian dishes during the Holidays so that Olena can experience some of it. This is our 3rd year making a Ukrainian pirogi and this year I am going to attempt Borsch . I have done it in the past but I got the recipe off line and it didn't taste the same. Gene emailed me his family recipe earlier this week....thought I would share in case any of you are interested! Have fun translating! :) Borsch Ukrainian with meat. In boiling bone clear soup lay meat, cook him to readiness, take out and cut on portion. A beet is chopped by a straw, salt, splash by vinegar, mix and extinguish with addition of fat from meat-stock, tomato-puree, sugar to semireadiness. Onion is chopped a straw and slightly toast with fat. In a clear soup put the potato cut pieces, take to boiling.Add a slicing(cut) straw a fresh cabbage and cook 15 minutes, mortgage the stewed beet, and bow. Cut fresh tomatoes, Bulgarian pepper, slightly toasted flour and boil 5 m...

Sorry for the lack of posts but the Holiday has made us a bit busy. Making lots of cookies, brownies, chocolates and pierogis. We had a Christmas party for Jason's side on Saturday. We have Xmas Eve Dinner here at our house and Xmas Day will be spent with my family and my parents. We are very much animal people and love our pets like they are our children...if it were up to me we would have a farm of them. I had to torture them a bit this year because since Olena has come into the family they don't get to take as many photo sessions...I am sure they miss it :) Here's a couple new pictures of others in the family besides just Olena :) Like the Red Nose?? Really he loves this...especially the xmas cookie he got afterward.

Twas the Night before Christmas--for the parentless.. ......... . Twas the night before Christmas and all through the land there are parentless children, with no toys in hand No stockings to be hung by the chimney with care No hopes for a family soon to be there Their beds are not snug--but cold and quite bare there are no goodnight kisses--no one to care While we in our homes, laughing in delight all settle down for a Merry Christmas Eve night When in some one's heart--there arises a clatter there are children in need--who's lives really DO matter! Away to the computer please go in a flashto see the sweet face with whom YOU could be matched! While a child you see--their beautiful face all aglowcould this be MY child--could I already know?? When in the dreams of the orphan--what always appearsis a family to love them, to care and hold dear As you stare at that child--your heart beats real quick--for you know in your heart that sweet face will stick More dreams sweet children ha...

This past week and a half has been boot camp week. The behavior of our lovely daughter has been atrocious lately and so it was time to buckle down again and get her back from the land of naughty children. She is an extremely scheduled child. She functions much better, behaves a lot better and is much happier when she is on her routine. The month of November was very hectic and busy, and she spent a lot of time with some family while J and I worked so the constant change of the schedule each day was making for a very unpleasant child. We seem to be just about back to normal - the manners are back and there is a lot less whining so mom and dad are much happier. I am in the process of completing her annual report. When you adopt from Ukraine you agree to send a report once a year for 3 years and than every other year until they are 18. The report is basic questions about what type of child she is, medical conditions, and family lifestyle. And then they ask for 10-12 photos...which...

Happy Holidays to everyone. Not to much to update around here. We have been busy getting ready for Christmas and doing some winter cleaning. We decided to even stay ahead of the game and took Olena to see Santa the Wednesday before Thanksgiving. Our usual 3 hour ordeal was said and done in 15 minutes. It was like the Angels were singing :) Therefore we have just established our new Warchol Family Tradition...seeing Santa on Thanksgiving Eve! btw ...she is asking for race cars! OH and my $20 hair cut was well worth the deal! I kept it simple so we wouldn't have any mishaps and I managed to do well being "Kelly" for the evening. I wonder how long that deal is going on??? nothing else to post at this moment and I don't have any new pictures right now but I plan to take a few for the Christmas cards within the next couple of days so hopefully I will have something to show.

ok so I need a hair cut really bad. I go through this every 4-6 months when my hair is beyond help and I am nearly in tears...but way to cheap to go get a hair cut. Around here the base price for a cut is $40 - I am sorry but that is just absurd to me. I have done much damage by trying to save a buck and going to Great Clips, Borics , etc. but EVERY single time this has lead to disaster and has landed me back in the $40 chair anyhow. With that being said I have just given up on taking risks. Well today on my way to work there is a Salon that I have been to a few times. (Last time was probably around this time last year and I have never had the same girl twice.) They had a huge sign out front that said $20 wash, cut and style. SWEET!!!! I was so excited. We are attempting our shot at a family photograph on Wednesday and with the Holidays this couldn't be a better deal for me. When I get to work I call and I ask about the $20 deal. She says "Oh yes, that is our new ...

I wish I had something exciting to post but unfortunately that is not the case and I don't even have any new pictures - :( but I do have a little story I thought I would share... I woke up last Sunday morning and looked outside, it was chilly, damp and gloomy - all I could think to myself and how much the day reminded me of Ukraine. All week, strangely, I had been having several thoughts of Ukraine, our time there and how much I would love to go back. I was just telling Jason about it a few days earlier. so I was sitting at the kitchen table looking through the paper when the sleeping beauty decided to wake up. She stumbled into the kitchen, gave me hug and looked up at me - all of a sudden it hit me - there I was looking into those huge brown eyes, the ones that melted my heart exactly 3 years ago. Yep, it was our "family day". I had completely forgotten about it. November 15th. The day that I walked into the room of the desky dom and was blessed with the most pe...

I am highly considering milling my own flour. Tonya gave me this idea back on our trip to GA, and I recently have done some research on it and I am thrilled at what I learned. Anyone else do this? I would love to hear some ideas and comments about what kind of mills you use. I don't have the money to spend on something fancy and I am perfectly fine with using a hand mill - but do they do the job? The wheat from which most bread is made has proven to be one of nature's most perfect foods, full of vitamins, minerals, and many trace elements. The seed of wheat is made up of many parts consisting of three basic categories: The bran, made up of many layers of vitamins, minerals, and rich proteins, forms the tough outer covering. This part of the wheat also provides valuable roughage which acts like a sponge to absorb and remove unwanted poisons and toxins from our digestive sytem. The germ is the life-giving part of the seed. It's packed with vitamins B and E, but once milled...

I'm BACK! Sorry but no Internet connection for a few weeks :( but I have a few things to post and of course a few pictures. We had a trip up North with my cousin and his family. It was beautiful, relaxing and a great time. We took a River Boat ride, had the perfect bonfire and the kids had a ton of fun. Olena is doing great. We couldn't be happier with the way things are going. We struggle a bit with behavior and attitude issues but we are trying different parenting techniques - trial and error, and trying find what works best. We have been pretty successful and you can see that she is now trying too and putting in a bit more effort to behave and do what we ask the first time and doing it happily. It makes for a great home life and all of us are really enjoying each other right now. She is getting much more confident on the bike. She finally has the brakes figured out and doesn't have much trouble at all if any. She has had a few spills but handles herself gre...

Oh I forgot to mention that I chopped her hair - hey it all grows back. I get a TON of compliments on it. It is a bit messy in these pics but when done nicely the short cut is adorable on her :) Milking a cow on the Farm! Feeding the sheep. Our River Boat ride, which was so much fun! and Jason enjoyed the $3 mixed drinks that grandma was making at the bar. A glass of Jack with a splash of Coke. (keep in mind this was a 2 hour trip) The leaves looked like Gold. We went to this great petting farm in Gladwin . The kids got a bucket full of stuff and a check list of chores that they had to do on the farm. They had a baby bottle that they feed the goats and sheep with. She milked a cow. Sorted the baby chicks. Feed the billy goats and big sheep corn. Feed the horse and donkeys hay. Fed some ducks and chickens. They had to collect eggs from the hen house and take them to the "general store" where the clerk bought the eggs from and paid with candy. Feed carrots to t...

unfortunately I have been in this weird funk lately and just haven't felt like posting - or doing much of anything for that matter. Poor Jason has been dealing with a very emotional and downright wacko wife lately. I am assuming that hormones and my medication have a lot to do with it but today was a bit better so I figured I would take a minute to update. FINALLY after 2 years, our darling daughter is riding her bike like a champ. When we got home from GA, she kept insisting she wanted to ride her bike like Leela (aka Lyra) so we practiced for a few days and then she got on and just took off. She is so darn cute. We have taking a family walk every evening after dinner and let her ride it so she is getting lots of practice. She is in her own little world, just pedals along and is constantly singing. Too funny. I don't foresee us taking the training wheels off anytime soon because she is truly a "cruiser" and likes to site see too much. She has ran off of th...

We drove over 1300 miles for a total of almost 27 hours, drove up some pretty darn big mountains, had fun racing back down them on the winding road, visited with 10 different friends, seen some spectacular scenery, and walked over 1200 steps into a big waterfall ravine (that I almost did not make it out of.) :) sounds like we had lots of fun, huh? We DID!! Home from Cloudland Canyon State Park where we camped with the Kissack's and had a wonderful and memorable trip. Then on our 13 hour journey back we split the trip into two days and stayed with some family in Corbin. Sadly it all had to come to an end and we are now back home and getting things back to normal. A few fun vacation facts... 1. It took Jason about 30 minutes to eat a 24oz cheeseburger. Yes I said 24oz!! it was huge and personally I thought it was pretty gross! The funniest part of it all is that he was determined to finish it so that he could get his picture on the wall of fame, only to find out once he was done that...

So last night I was watching the news and seen this big broadcast about Elton John. He announced he would be adopting from Ukraine! WHAT?? Jason and I just sat there laughing - though I love his intentions and think his charity work is amazing, all I could think was how the heck can they let him release this announcement when he had all odds against him. I don't care who you are and I know that money does buy you a lot in Ukraine, but by law no singles can adopt. In addition to that is he 62 years old and this little boy he was supposedly pursuing is only 14 months. That surely goes against their age limitations/laws. And what about preselection ? Traveling to a orphange for a concert and finding a child certainly sounds like preselection to me. Though my heart goes out to him and his partner and if they truly want to adopt I hope that they can help a child especially if they are willing to take on one with HIV but please do your research before you announce worldwide what...

Today's marks a memory in history...Olena told me for the first time that I was mean and that she didn't like me anymore. It was a complete shock and though I know all kids go through this and I know she didn't really mean it, it kinda hurt my feelings. She has had this bad habit of dumping water on the bathroom floor while taking a bath. She has now done it so many times that it is has now started seeping between the tub and tiles causing it to practically rain in the basement. She knows not to do it and we discuss it every time before she gets in the tub and sure enough I walked in there this afternoon to check on her and soaked my sock the second I stepped through the door. The entire floor was covered and the towel was in a ball and absolutely saturated. I was so mad!! I told her to clean up, and she was getting out. She didn't like this idea and started to scream at me, and said "I don't like you anymore - your mean and I only love my dad!" ...

I am exhausted so I am not sure how long with post will be or even how much sense it will make but I have had this on my list of things to do for way too long now. Today was my day off and we decided to put our yearly pass to use and headed over the Detroit Zoo. We had a picnic lunch and skipped around to some of our favorite exhibits. It was a beautiful day weather wise and it was an extremely wonder family time. Olena was in a great mood and we had fun. Tonight at the dinner table, she wanted to say Grace..."tank you Lord por my pamily, bless my pood and tank you for no crying today - amen - lets eat" (thank you Lord for my family, bless my food and thank you for no crying today) Though I would never think to say it during our meal time Grace I have to admit I am thankful for no crying today too :) It has been a pretty yucky couple of weeks. Olena has had a bit of an attitude problem, lots of crying fits, and potty accidents - which is absolutely out of her norm. She...

Riding the train after a great afternoon of some family fun. The entrance of the Arctic Ring of Life - this is our favorite exhibit ! Sadly to say the Polar Bears were not swimming today. We did get to see them up close grazing the hill side which was kinda neat because you get a much better sense of thier size when they are out of the water. We did get to watch the seals though which is always just as fun. What a cool zoo...we even have a few dinosaurs.

I ordered 2 pair of FuzziBunz cloth "diapers" for Olena and I LOVE THEM! She is still constantly needs a pull up for bedtime and I am sick and tired of wasting money on pull ups and I figured I'd do my part to help the environment. I am really ticked at myself for not buying them earlier. They were $15 each but well worth the investment. We have been using them at night, they don't leak, they don't smell, and they are super easy to clean. Not to mention that they are very soft :) I snapped them in place and O just pulls them on and off like the pull up and they are not any bulkier than a pull up either. I told J that I am so excited to use them that we need to have some babies so I can pad their little bums with these cute things :) Speaking of babies, yes we are still trying! My OB is not willing to hand over any fertility meds until I get my blood pressure down a little bit more so I am working on that. On the other hand I was able to go back on medi...

Yes I meant summer daze...that is the funk I feel like I am in right now. We have had some very hot and humid weather the last couple of weeks and I am sick and tired of sitting in the central air. My nose is stuffy, I am sneezing like crazy and I feel like I have been living in a cave! Please weatherman bring some relief! Home life is a bit off the beaten path. Our so called "schedule" was lost many weeks ago. Not sure where it went but it seems that the daddy/husband of the house doesn't like to follow the schedule so that leaves mommy with too many things to do in too little time! Since I have had to come home from work and straighten the house, and prep/cook dinner I haven' t had any time to work with Olena on preschool work. She has started getting up over an hour earlier than usual (a change from 7:30 to 6:30a) which means she is extra tired at night which makes for a very crabby and uncooperative preschooler. So we had to bite the bullet and make her be...

August 2007 August 2008 August 2009 Look at this girl's skin. You would swear I have been baking her in the oven! LOL! I have never seen anyone change so drastically and so quickly the way her skin does. And this is WITH SPF70 sun screen lubed from head to toe! BF is a toe head and very Russian looking. BM is very Gypsy/Romanian looking with dark olive skin and huge dark eyes and dark hair. I tend to "forget" she is adopted and I think watching her make these changes and start to resemble them is a "reminder" of who she is - it is bitter sweet I suppose.

Jason came into the kitchen to check on her while she was eating her lunch this afternoon - this is how he found her!

Mackinac/Port Huron Boat Races were a few weeks ago. We spent the day camping with my parents and watched the sailboats launch from the Port Huron Yacht Club to the starting point. It was a rainy day but a great experience. It was really neat standing there watching them all parade by while bag pipers play music. Olena loved it ! The Earth Voyager is a massive beautiful site. I believe it took a crew of 16 to sail this race! Nana and Olena aboard the ' FoxSea ' our cousin's boat.

Not too much to report. I have been happy the last few days with the fact that Olena has decided to be cooperative, kind, loving, and polite...what else could a mother ask for? I have tacked down a schedule that hasn't been followed as closely as I'd like but we are slowly getting into the routine. We have stopped giving Olena naps which means it is necessary to get her in bed by 8:00. It is great when we do manage to accomplish this because I love having the few extra hours to myself to relax and get a few things done. I have also decided to add 30 minutes of "preschool" in the evening, 4 days a week. I want her to start getting into the habit of sitting and working on something since we plan to home school. She is such a busy body so this will take some time and patience from the both of us to get her to focus. She does really well and is very eager for the first 15 minutes, after that she starts to get frustrated and gets mad before she even tries. We got some time...

Normally I do not dread Mondays, but today was an exception. If I could have crawled into bed at 9am, put the covers over my head and wait until Tuesday to come back out I would have! I can always tell first thing in the morning what mood my little angel will be in and sure enough the second she came into my room at 7am and started barking orders at me about what she wanted, I knew it was going to be a rough day. She sassed and whined all morning while I tried to get her and I ready for the day. Then when it was time to get dressed for work, I realized that I had no clean work pants! URG!!! So I frantically started yelling at the hubby and he proceeded to tell me that no laundry was done over the weekend because we ran out of laundry soap and no one bothered to make anymore. I was fuming...who was too lazy to make it? and now I know that means I have to wait at least until tomorrow to do a load because it takes a good 24 hours for the soap to solidify!! who's bright idea was it to...

I cannot believe it has been so long since I last posted. I wish I could say it was because we have been so busy with lots of wonderful things but that's not the case. It is true we have been pretty busy but just with living life! Jason was out of town for 10 days, leaving mommy with all household duties...including cutting our grass with a push mower (we have 3.5 lots). I HATE cutting grass. My parents use to make me do it as a kid and I vowed to never have to do it when I lived in my own house! and bygolly I have held true to that commitment for the most part. Occasionally when J is gone or has been really busy I pull ranks and do it but he is the full time lawn maintenance crew. He plants a beautiful garden, keeps great grass, and he grows a lot of plants himself from seeds. He enjoys it so we are both happy :) Anyway, O and I had 10 days of girl time which was a lot of fun. My lovely daughter has been quite a handful lately. Now that communication doesn't seem t...

We spent a Saturday afternoon on Lake St. Clair in the new pontoon. It was a very rough start and being it was the first time we launch this huge thing into the water it was a learing experience we will never forget. Lets see, first we argued about how close to he needed to be to the dock, then the wind blew it in the wrong direction and we were facing the wrong end of the canal, we backed into some rocks and chewed up the prop a little bit, some very rude and unGodly man in a wheel chair decided to sit on the side of the ramp and procede to scream profanity at us and harass us, my mom got left on the dock....etc etc etc. But we all lived, we all got to spend some good quality time together and now we can laugh at the whole experience :) Us girls (Rickie, Olena and I) did some tubing, which she loved - until the 3 of us went airborn and she decided she had enough.

Last weekend we were blessed with some beautiful weather so we headed downtown for some sites and some good ole' girls day of fun! Rickie's sister Addie was in town from KY and we only get to see her about 2 times a year. We decided to spend the afternoon walking along the river walk and having some lunch. It as a great day! some of the sky line from the people mover. Comerica Park - where the Detroit Tigers play. Across the river looking at Windsor. The GM building! this picture will be one of the last :( Princess! River boat tour. You can rent this for parties, weddings, etc. Or they run river tours with dinner and dancing certain days of the week.