happy half birthday dear Karina

Yesterday, June 28, was Karina's half birthday! She's 1 1/2!!!! 

God sent some rain (and a lot of wind) the night before that gave daddy a little break from harvesting wheat and time to have a celebration in honor of our sweet Karina!!

She was so excited to celebrate. She is always ready to have fun!

We had a "half supper" with some of Karina's favorites.

half meatballs, mini corn on the cob, and half a potato!

Meatballs and corn-on-the-cob are some of her favorites right now. Blueberries too but we took a break from those for a meal. She dug right in! 

I love how she eats her corn-on-the-cob. It's not the typewriter way or the around the cob way. It's holding it vertically and randomly eating the kernels. She does like to do things her own way!

Then it was time for some cake!!!

Yum!

She was so pumped!

And beautiful as always!

She loved us singing "happy half birthday" to her. She loves to sing and has a beautiful little voice but she just smiled and enjoyed the attention.

She thought lighting the candles was pretty awesome.

She even tried to blow them out and got a little help from big brother.

Those little lips are the cutest.

Then we all clapped. Yay!!!

And Karina helped herself to her cake. She thought it was all for her.

Then she finished off a full bowl of cake. She LOVED it. It had some of her favorites too - strawberries, whipped cream, Nutella, and chocolate cake. Good stuff.

It always tastes the best when it gets all over you and your clothes too!

After baths it was time for a present.

We've never done gifts at half birthdays, but I feel like she kinda got jipped on her first birthday. Since we were traveling all the way across the world with a sick, scared little girl on literally the longest day of her life. She didn't "enjoy" her first birthday so much . . . or the cake . . or the presents. So we just got her something small.

She was a little unsure if it was really okay to be ripping that paper. She hears her share of no-no's and this just seemed a little crazy to her!

a little purse of her own with some fun stuff inside

She totally understood that this was hers. There were lots of "mine" comments. And it was pretty funny to see Addyson and Braden try to take over. They are used to both opening presents at the same time for their birthdays so the idea that Karina got a present and neither of them did was kind of a new concept!!!

She has her own debit card, phone, mirror, and makeup. Look out world.

I love celebrating half birthdays. Birthdays are a lot of fun, but there is something fun about just the 5 of us with simple food and decorations celebrating our sweet kids. And a year is a long time to wait for your birthday.

Happy half birthday sweet girl!!! We love you so much. I can't believe that a year ago we didn't even know you existed. So glad we got to celebrate this half birthday with you!!

summer is here

Well, it looks (and feels - hello 90 and 100 degrees I did not miss you) like summer is finally here to stay in our neck of the woods.

Want to see what we've been up to?

We've been busy eating sweet corn.

I cut some off the cob for Karina thinking she probably wouldn't go for the cob. Boy was I wrong. She loves her some corn-on-the-cob.

We moved Karina to a booster seat at the table instead of her high chair. We never did that with the twins but I am liking it with her. I haven't brought myself to actually super clean the high chair and store it in the basement yet; I can't believe how fast she's transitioned from baby to big girl and I think I'm a little in denial to be honest. 

Addyson can enjoy some corn too - she likes to call it cob-on-the-corn. :)

And Daddy and Braden are fans too. Yum!

Addyson and Braden took their first swimming lessons.

Braden was so nervous and he tried to conquer his fears. 

Some days went well and others not so much. 

But I'm proud of him for facing his fears - I know it's not easy. Miss Addyson was freezing most days and looked terrified in the water but once we were home she talked about Miss Amy all day and about how much fun she had. 

Well, we do not have any swimmers at our house yet but let's just say it was a learning experience. We're thankful for patient teachers!  And we're trying to work on some of the things they learned at Grammy and Papa's pool. It's a little interesting with 2 adults and 3 non-swimmers.

So besides the heat (we'd really rather be in our parkas enjoying a Russian winter honestly) we're also getting used to the crazy wind. And playing with the dogs who I'm certain would really rather be in Russia too. Poor Chloe gets so hot.

Karina's been busy getting herself into all kinds of trouble. If there was any doubt, we now know that she can climb on the table and help herself to anything she wants.

She grabbed the pudding off the very center of the table, plopped herself in the chair and when I caught her she was cramming fists full of chocolate pudding into her mouth. Oh my, the things she can do in 30 seconds never cease to amaze me. Just in the last couple days she has started pulling chairs up to the kitchen counter like Addyson does, so now I am sure that nothing is safe. Oh well, it's taken me three kids but I've finally realized sometimes you just have to grab the camera and laugh. It's a better option than crying or screaming from frustration, although unfortunately at times those seem like pretty good options.

And the final hint that summer is in full swing?

Wheat harvest is days (or hours???) away. Finally. What a crazy weather year!

Squirrel!

We don't see many squirrels at our house. We have 4 trees in our yard, but only 3 are alive. So we are kind of in the middle of nowhere for squirrels - not too many hiding spots or things to climb on. And we have two puppies who seem to chase away our wild kitties and any other animal that dares to step foot in their yard. But one poor squirrel made a bad decision to roam our way.

Chloe and Maddie happily treed it. And were proud to show us what an awesome job they did of protecting us.

Well hello there Mr. Squirrel.

Here's Chloe guarding the prized animal. It was a really windy day and we were impressed at the way the squirrel was hanging on for dear life!

This is the excitement that happens at our house people. It's pretty intense out here on the farm. I hope you can keep up.

The dogs got some congratulatory hugs and it was back to regular life.

In case you were wondering, the dogs fell asleep and the squirrel escaped. But I doubt he'll set foot in these parts again.

Happy Birthday Chloe!!

I mentioned to Braden that it was our black lab Chloe's birthday last Friday. He asked about a cake and presents and a party. He thought she needed a full out birthday bash and talked about it all day. He even thought we should cancel our plans for a picnic party at the park that evening because we had to celebrate her birthday. He was serious about celebrating her all day long.

We settled for meat birthday cake - the leftover fatty meat from a roast and steak in a plastic tub. Fancy, I know. With 7 carrot strip candles. Braden was proud to deliver it to her.

Notice Maddie's little nose and tongue trying to snitch the birthday girl's cake??

It was pretty awesome. At least Chloe thought so. 

We made sure she eventually shared a little with Maddie because you do have to share your birthday cake. 

Happy 7th Birthday Chloe! You are a good dog. And the best barker I know. Don't expect to sneak up on our house because Chloe will let us know you're around with her vicious bark. She usually scares the FedEx guy but then again he doesn't seem too brave.

Krazy Kissable Karina

Sweet Karina - 

There are not many English adjectives that start with K. If I knew more Russian I could probably come up with some good K adjectives that correctly described you. But you are definitely kissable and sometimes krazy so we'll just stick to those since that's the best I can do.

You have been home over FIVE months already!! We'll be celebrating your half birthday before you know it! And in that short time you have gone from a little baby to a cute little girl. You're walking - actually running, talking our ears off, and being plenty ornery. We find you all kinds of places that Addyson and Braden never thought of. Like in the drawers . . .

Karina - there are lots of things I want to remember about you at this age.

I don't want to forget my little moo cow. You love to hide in your hooded towel and we play peek-a-boo every night after your bath. You are the cutest horned moo cow I have ever seen and I love seeing your beautiful eyes poking out at me with your big smile and funny giggles. You love to lick the bubbles off your arms and drink bath water every night - silly girl - no matter how much I try to stop you.

You like to climb in and on anything. Oh boy - you keep me on my toes. I think you have Addyson's and Braden's guardian angels watching out for you too.

You finally decided that riding the horse was fun.

And you love reading.

Have I mentioned that you are so, so cute? When you wear your overalls and have your hair in piggy tails all I want to do is snuggle and kiss you all day long.

Addyson wonders why that special spray in the yellow bottle (water) doesn't make her hair curly. She thinks you have the cutest curls and like every girl she wants what she doesn't have. I'm sure someday you'll be trying to straighten your hair but for now we sure love all your curls!

Here you are ready for the first time mommy and daddy left you so we could go on a date. It was the beginning of May and you stayed with Grammy and Papa for a couple hours  (with your brother and sister) and you did great. You had piggy along just in case. You are starting to stay in the nursery at church and getting used to that too.

Did I mention you're ornery? I caught you eating a piece of muddy cow poop that snuck it's way in on daddy's boot. You thought it was so yummy.

And you were not happy about me washing you up and taking away your snack.

You are constantly moving. Running and in cabinets and looking for trouble. You remove the registers on the floor vents and shut doors and hide things and throw them away. Oh goodness.

But you are so cute and give us the biggest sad eyes. You like to hide behind your hands but one eye always peeks out when you think you are in trouble. And you cry the biggest tears that I have ever seen. Mostly when you are mad. Because you don't have many sad cries, they usually just seem mad.

You are a sweet snuggler and we love holding you. Especially when you are sleeping.

You like being outside and going anywhere. You love to go do things and see people. You are so much more outgoing than your siblings were at your age so mommy has learned to chase you and try to keep up! I love that you are so friendly and unafraid of many things. But that you still melt into mama when you are unsure of people and things.

And that you love your daddy. He still makes you laugh and laugh. He taught you to give big hugs. You wrap your arms around us so tight and grunt. You also blow kisses and give good ones too. And like to give fist bumps and high-fives.

You try to do everything that Addyson and Braden do. You do not want to be left out. And you get mad if you are. You are starting to throw some good temper tantrums. It is pretty funny when you stomp your little feet and scream and we have to try not to laugh most of the time.

You love your puppy. It was one of your first words and you call him "puppa". We couldn't find him for a few days but when I showed him to you your eyes lit up and you gave him big hugs. He is usually tucked under your arm and you roam the house together looking for trouble. You take good care of him and pat him and talk to him. He is like your baby.

You love to have your puppy, your piggy, and your fleecy blanket. We think you are just really glad to have things that are yours. And soft things - because I don't think there were many of those at the orphanage. They would be hard to keep clean and not share lice and other yucky stuff with the other children. But whatever the reason, you love to snuggle with your soft things and it's pretty cute!

You are a mess. We were cracking up because you totally look like you have a mustache and beard!!! Thankfully it's just chocolate.

We made your first overnight trip for Great Grandma Dyck's funeral. You did really well but it was still tough and scary for you to spend the night somewhere different and we felt the effects for days afterwards. But considering everything you really did so, so awesome. You continue to amaze us.

You sure love your thumbs still. Either one will do.

And piggy too.

And your mama. We are best buds. And I love that. I love to hear you say mama. You even screamed it in your sleep the other night. I like knowing that even when you're not awake you know deep in your soul that I am here to take care of you and that you are loved. I'm so glad I get to love you like only a mama can.

You says lots of words - mama, dada, bottle, puppy, poopy, bye-bye, hi (you say this to random strangers all the time as we pass them in the store), please, mine, read, hot, teeth, moo, eat, snack, bath, papa, all done, all gone, love you, night-night. You understand so, so much and can respond with head nods. You have completely forgotten Russian. A few weeks after you were home you stopped dead in your tracks and would go to anyone who spoke Russian to you, but the other day several people spoke it to you and you were absolutely oblivious to what they were saying. I didn't think it would happen so fast but you don't even know what Nyet means.

Sweet Karina, we love you so much and can't really remember life without you. You make our family so much more awesome.