Thomas turns five!

Thomas had his first birthday as an American citizen today. He is officially five years old! He was very excited to take cupcakes to share at preschool, but even more excited for presents and birthday cake at home. We feel so lucky to have this wonderful little boy in our family!

Let the unwrapping begin!

Candace and Sarah were almost as excited as Thomas to get the presents opened.

Every gift was greeted with this display of genuine enthusiasm.

Thor... he loves it!

Thomas picked out this soccer cake with some help from Mommy.

After a pizza dinner, Thomas blew out his candles and we all enjoyed the delicious cake!

It's basketball season!

My husband Tom and I grew up in Indiana. That's basketball country; particularly high school basketball. Remember the movie "Hoosiers"? Small town squad wins the big state championship against the big boys from Indianapolis in storied Hinkle Fieldhouse (at Butler University for those of you who like NCAA Cinderella stories)... at any rate, I digress. High school basketball is very popular in Indiana, and although it definitely takes a back seat to football here in Nebraska, we enjoyed taking the youngsters to view AGHS in one of their early season match-ups last week. Of course, we were also there to cheer on the World's Cutest Cheerleader as she cheered on the Bluejays.

Important disclaimer: Although Tom and I are both Hoosiers by birth, we are Boilermakers by choice. This is a critical distinction.

Bluejay fans

The boys in action

Cheerleaders in action...

...including our favorite one.

Sisters

Dance team at half-time

New snow and ho, ho, ho!

Finally, what Thomas has been waiting for since his first glimpse of snowflakes back in early November... snow that stuck, deep enough to play in! Even better, it fell on the very day of his first visit with that jolly old elf, Santa Claus himself!

Candace, Santa, Sarah and Thomas

Ready for some snowy fun!


Thomas wanted to throw snowballs at someone very badly!
Alas, no takers. Maybe next time, buddy.

Joy in small things

Thomas spent the morning running errands with me yesterday. Our first stop was Mommy's orthopedist, where I got some cortisone shots in both shoulders... not my favorite thing. Thomas was a concerned observer after enduring six vaccinations himself a couple of weeks ago. We also went to the bank. The teller gave me some things for Thomas: a balloon, a sticker and a mini candy cane. When I gave them to Thomas, he said "All this for me?" He could hardly believe his good fortune. We also went to visit a friend who works at a gift shop. Thomas was enthralled with the Christmas "socks" on display. I explained that they were called stockings and that he would get one with his name on it to hang up for Santa to fill on Christmas Eve. When we got home, by the magic of the USPS, it was there! Thomas was so excited... we decorated the mantle right away.

I love how the small things make his face light up... a sticker and balloon, a stocking and a candy cane. I hope that his sweet appreciation for the small blessings will stay with him forever.

Thomas loves his stocking!

The holidays have begun!

We traveled to Indianapolis for Thanksgiving this year, our hometown and home of both sets of grandparents. In fact, my parents moved a couple of months ago, so they now live right around the corner from Tom's parents.  Although that seems like it would make visiting more convenient, this trip posed some new challenges. Firstly, although we have two large SUV's, you just can't fit eight people in an 8 passenger vehicle when there are three car seats involved. So we took two cars.  Secondly, we stayed in a nearby hotel, as our large family also overwhelms the small retirement community houses our parents live in.

We arrived in town Wednesday night and after quick hellos to the grandparents, settled down into our rooms at the hotel for some sleep.  Thanksgiving day was spent with the Spears family and Friday was at my sister Johanna's house with the Miles family.  Saturday we hit the road and were home again by dinner time.  It was sure nice to see everyone; the long drive for a short trip was worth it.

 Cousin Becky and boyfriend Rommel playing Yahtzee
with Candace and Thomas

 Kenneth, Emily and Anna with cousin Paul

 The Spears Family!

  Tom and his brother Andy... eyes on the football game.

 

 Sarah snuggling with cousin Libby.

 

 At the pool with my dear sister in law Linda.

  We're rarely photographed together since

we take all the pictures.

  Kenneth playing poker with cousins Noah and Dereck

and Uncle Colin while Candace and Grandpa observe.

 

 

 Kenneth explaining the fine points of the game to Candace.

  

 Candace reading with Aunt Johanna.

Thomas loves Anna!

Swimming with cousins Samantha and Allie and friend Hannah,

daughter of our college friend Elaine and her husband Chris.

 

Dance, dance, dance

This past week we had parents' viewing night at the twins' dance class. They have limited space for spectators, so we only get to watch occasionally. The studio is in a church basement and is thus a little dark, so it's hard to get pictures, but here are a few that are at least viewable of Candace and Sarah strutting their stuff. I was impressed how much better they have gotten since last year; Miss Mollie is a good teacher.

Stretching and listening to Miss Mollie's instructions.

A blurry ballet shot of Candace.


Tap class


Sarah practicing buffaloes.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Wearing blinders

The idea of a "trauma anniversary" certainly isn't new, and I read about it in The Connected Child, Attaching in Adoption and Parenting Your Internationally Adopted Child early in my relationship with the twins. It's funny to me, then, that I just wised up this year, our third November with the twins, that the reason they are so difficult at this time of year is that this is the time of year that they were relinquished to the orphanage in Nazret. I am sure they could not verbalize this. I am also sure that they have no idea what month is was, and they certainly don't get any clues by weather or cultural events, since both are vastly different in Nebraska and Ethiopia. Honestly, I don't know how it works... just another mystery of the human brain. But I do know that at this time, we experience lots of acting out and lots of sadness and longing for Ethiopia and the family they left behind. It is painful for me to watch and I am sure even more painful in their hearts. (It's also very draining for everyone, which explains my absence from this blog of late.)

We talked about their adoption story in therapy this week, and that seemed to help. In addition, I am trying to be extra patient with tantrums and controlling behavior. Not easy... but a lot easier than what they have been through. Love will see us through. Especially now that my blinders are off.

Getting to know you

Sylvia loves Bobby. Sylvia wants to snuggle with him in the dog cabinet all the time. Bobby, alas, is not reciprocating her enthusiasm. At least he's not running away from her in terror now. :)

Mr. Personality

It's interesting to watch as Thomas moves out of his "honeymoon" behavior and we get to see his real personality. Generally speaking, he is a happy kid and easy to parent. He is kind of wiggly and makes a lot of those weird little boy noises. He certainly is interested in the details of his next meal. Here are some pictures that capture some of the facets of his sweet personality.

He is destined to be the class clown...
always trying to make us laugh.

Do you see a recurring theme here?

He wears many hats... sometimes literally.

He can pout like nobody's business and turn on the waterworks instantaneously when needed... no surprise to any of my fellow adoptive parents of Ethiopian children, I'm sure.

But most of the time the Thomas we see
has the sunniest smile around!

Soccer finale

I got these photos from one of the other "soccer moms"... just had to say that. ;) They are from the final game of the season, which was actually a couple of weeks ago. Thomas had a blast playing, and best of all, he made a friend!

Playing in the final game of the fall.

The Blue Team

Soccer buddy Zachary