Double the Trouble!

It has been 2 years since the girls came home, and we are so grateful to have them part of our family.  When Destina came home she weighted 45 lbs and was 45 inches tall. Today she is 80 lbs and 56 inches tall.  Avrie came home weighing 23 lbs and was 34 inches tall, today Avrie weighs 44 lbs and is 44 inches tall. They have almost doubled in size.
Their personalities have grown too. They were shy and not quite sure what to make of their new surroundings and all the people living in their new home, today they are just part of a big crazy family. They fight with their siblings, they get into trouble, and they know how to have fun, they are also great helpers. They are both quick witted and very smart, not much gets by them. They speak their minds and hold their own as the youngest in a family of 7.

 

Our first night together in Miami

Avrie today!

 Destina today!

Our last post adoption report has been sent in, they are fully integrated into our lives and we could not be happier!

HAPPY GOTCHA DAY DESTINA AND AVRIE!!

2 Years Ago Today!

This was happening 2 years ago today! Scott was walking our girls off the airplane in Miami! Our girls arrived in the U.S.A. on January 29, 2010! 

Fun While It Lasted

 It snowed here all last week, school was cancelled, and the kids had plenty of time on their hands. Some of them went out for midnight sledding, others enjoyed the snow during the day, and some of the kids slept until noon. Ryan, of course, was figuring out how to get to the mountain everyday. Even McKenzie's work was cancelled for 3 days, and I only worked half the time.

Destina was so happy she danced around the house singing that her wish had come true!  They could not wait to get out in the snow and play, it was a great motivator all their jobs got done quickly all week long so they could gear up and go play in the snow.

Then as fast as it came it went. On Friday it started warming up and and raining, and my wish came true, the snow started melting and by Saturday this is all that was left of our 6 ft tall snowman. Today there is nothing! The green grass is back the icky dirty snow is being washed away and all is right in the pacific NW!

But the fun abruptly ended today when we had to be at church by 9 am.  For some that was about 3 hours earlier than they have been getting up all week, and others it was out of pure exhaustion from getting up at 6 am all week and skiing. But either way these 2 did not last and both of them slept right through the first hour of church.   

At least they didn't snore or start drooling maybe they will try harder to stay awake next time!

Smile!

Hopefully these 4 will have beautiful smiles after we are done with the braces!  It has been a major whine fest going on here for the last 2 weeks. First Kelsie got her braces on and her teeth hurt, then it was time for the boys. Katie has had her braces on for about 18 months and they should be coming off pretty soon but she had a major adjustment last week and her teeth hurt.
The orthodontist was perplexed when he saw what needed to be done to her teeth. At first glance they looked pretty straight but upon further examination it was apparent that her bite was off, her back teeth do not even touch when she bites down and her jaw was not lined up properly, he mentioned that it is one of the hardest things to correct. We knew that Kelsie needed braces but had to wait until we had some extra money to get hers on and poor Jayden has a small mouth and his bottom teeth are all crowded together and then his eye teeth started coming in way out of place. He had to have 4 permanent teeth pulled last week and then he started complaining that his teeth hurt. Now on to Ryan, I thought his teeth looked straight and he might just need a retainer to bring them together a little more, but no, obviously I am not an orthodontist, when the Dr. looked at his teeth he got this big smile on his face, not the happy kind but the I can't believe it kind. He said that he has the same exact bite and alignment problem that Katie has/had, only worse. If you look at his smile in this picture you can see that his chin and nose do not line up, I had never noticed that before, Katie had the same thing but hers are lining up pretty good now.  When Ryan got his braces on they put bumpers on his front bottom teeth so that he could not bite down all the way and knock off the brackets, well this caused major problems for Ryan because his back teeth do not touch so he had to start swallowing his food without chewing and he drank a lot of smoothies but for a growing boy that was not quite enough calories for him and he was in a pretty bad mood for a couple of days. When I went into the orthodontist office a couple of days ago he joking said, "I lay awake at night thinking about Ryan and Katie's teeth".
Hopefully, all the work, pain, and money will pay off and someday they will all have great smiles! As for me I will be feeling the pain for quite some time!

Best Birthday Ever!

Today is Ryan's birthday he is 14. It has been really weird watching him grow this last year, he went from a boy to a man, he is almost as tall as Scott, they wear the same size shoe and he has these man size hands. His voice is changing and he is still eating us out of house and home. (for my family, he has dad's nose, and Mike's smile even more weird) He is maturing and even his older sisters don't mind him hanging around. He is a hard worker and responsible, working hard to earn money to play. This kid will wake up at 6 am to go skiing or snowboarding with his buddies every chance he gets. We are really enjoying Ryan and love who he is becoming.

His dad is his best friend and they are really close. I heard him telling his grandma today that he can now keep up with his dad when he is skiing, which he just started this year. I don't know if that means that Scott is slowing down or that Ryan just has no fear when it comes to riding his bike or playing in the snow. Scott and Ryan can talk skiing all day long they are so much alike.

Ryan's best birthday ever is that school was cancelled because of all the snow that has been dumping on our town and he gets to go play all day. His birthday presents were combined with his Christmas and he got them all at Thanksgiving because it was all new snow gear. Happy Birthday Ryan we love you!

MLK

"Let us be dissatisfied until men and women, however black they may be, will be judged on the basis of the content of their character and not on the basis of the color of their skin. Let us be dissatisfied."

Remembering

2 years ago the earthquake hit Haiti and our lives changed overnight. I don't want to discount what the people of Haiti went through, I don't think those of us living in a 1st world country can even begin to comprehend. Even those that went down there right after the earthquake knew they had a ticket out and that they would not have to rebuild their entire lives. My thoughts are often with those friends that we made while visiting Haiti and praying that they are able to rebuild their lives.
January brings for us the Birthday of Ellie, our first little Haitian angel, (Jan 5), The anniversary of Gracie's death (Jan 16) and the earthquake (Jan 12). Bitter sweet moments, we will never forget those two little girls and how they touched and changed our lives.

Saying good bye to Ellie little did we know this would be the last time we saw her.

Our sweet little Gracie

Destina and Avrie shortly after Scott arrived in Haiti following the earthquake.

January also brings celebration, Ryan's birthday (Jan 17) and the girl's "Gottcha Day" (Jan 30).

Hair Again

The last time I posted about Avrie's hair someone wanted to know the steps involved in putting in extensions. Last week I blocked out a good portion of a day and did Destina's hair and took pictures to document the steps.
The first step is to wash the hair and then straighten it, this was the I was leaving out when I did the box braids, but it is much easier to part and braid straight hair than it is the natural curly hair. This takes about 20 minutes.


The next step is to put in the braids, when we paid someone to do her extensions last time she did the braids from front to back and I thought I would try going side to side and see how that would turn out. I alternated my directions every other way so that all the ends would not be on the same side. This gives the hair a different part and I like how it looked when we finished. It took about 30-40 minutes to do the braids, I am getting a little faster each time.

The next step is to "latch hook" the extensions into the braids. Using a latch hook I slide it under the braid wrap a piece of hair around it pull it through the braid and pull the ends through the little loop that is created and then tie it in a knot. This is the step that takes the longest, we watched Tangled and August Rush and so about 3 1/2 hours. She sits really good for me and we only took a small break between movies. The hardest part is hooking the ends back up into the braids so they don't stick out and I think it would have been much easier had I done the braids front to back, but it worked out.




As soon as we were done she looked in the mirror and said, "Tia is back, I love my hair!"
I love her hair either way but she loves to have the long extensions in her hair. And the pay off of spending the whole day doing hair is it is pretty much hands off for about 6 weeks. She just washes it like normal hair about once a week and it is good to go and makes the mornings a lot easier.