Twins?

Just a quick note. I had to write this. Last night we went (family of six) to the mall. Darned microwave died, and the dishwasher's on its last legs... so we made a trip of it by eating at the food court and bumming around the mall after we hit Sears. As I was heading into the glass elevator with Tommy and Gracelynn in our double stroller (and Ben alongside us), another lady pushed her daughter in a stroller in behind us. I turned around as the door was closing. She said, glancing at our stroller, "Oh, are they twins?"

I almost burst out laughing. I got that all the time with Ben and Reagan... both being fair-skinned, blonde and similar sizes. I just smiled, and pushed down the canopies (which were blocking the lady's view of the two kids) and said "oh, uh no". I think she felt silly... but then we laughed and I told her about the adoption.

I doubt I'll get asked that question often... but in fairness, she didn't even see the kids... just the double stroller. I'm still giggling though.

Pretty in Pink

This weekend, we had visitors. Gran and Granddad (Mike's parents) came to visit for a few days. We went out for pizza one night, had a yard sale on Saturday, and just hung out for awhile. They even got to be the first official at-home babysitters for Gracelynn while Mommy and Daddy stepped out for dinner on Sunday afternoon. The above photo is of Gracelynn with her gifts from G&G: a pretty dress, a pretty pink paisley purse, and a flower Lulu blabla doll (the shoes were supposed to be white ones that G&G bought, but she changed them before we could get the photo taken.)


We also took a photo of all four kids on the stairs. Here is the silly bunch! With four, I don't think you can ever get all kids looking in the same direction while smiling. I think it's physically impossible. Out of a half dozen shots, this was the closest.


Tommy has his own blabla, too, from Aunt Judy and Uncle Dick. His is Buzz, the winged bug.
(Look at www.blablakids.com for more.)

And lastly, here is Mommy and Gracelynn... taking our own picture. :-) Stay tuned... more company coming this coming weekend, too.

Last Day of School

We had a busy "last day of school". In the morning, Tommy and Grace played nicely. Grace even found Tommy's fireman outfit... thank you, Ms. Mary... she loves it too!

Here, she took a mid-morning nap... on the hard floor of the office? I put her in bed after I took the photo.

After the nap, we walked up to the school to visit with Ben and then with Reagan for their lunch period. Grace and Tommy filled up on the huge paper bag lunch I packed (to last an hour!) They both love the new stroller... whew!

We came home to find a package I've been waiting for. The Astro Arch sprinkler! It's cute. It's also flimsy... falls over easily, needs anchored to the playhouse to stay upright, and the water tube burst on the first run. Ugh. After some tying, propping and taping, we got it working nicely.

Here is Grace enjoying the sprinkler. I guess I forgot to change them into swimsuits first!

Aha! We found the bathing suit and got her ready for the water battle. Water battle?

Here, Tommy and Grace await the kids to walk down the path so that they can blast the older two with Super Soakers. We surprised them. :-)

Back home, the kids opened summer gifts (a t-shirt with a piece of artwork the created sometime during the year.) Then they peeked outside to the new sprinkler, and they bolted. All four kids, posing by the sprinkler.

Boy, I'm tired Mom. Gracelynn and her thumb... which she only sucks when she is tired.

Later, we went out to Ledo's pizza. Ahhhh... summer has begun!

Just one of the guys

Today Gracelynn was helping me clean the house. I've decided to do a yard sale next Saturday, and I'm sweeping through the house, one room at a time. I came upon some tattoos never used, so I helped Reagan, Tommy and Grace put a few tattoos on themselves. Gracelynn was so giddy... she'd apparently never had one before. (Here she is showing off the tattoos.)

A little while later, as I was rifling through her clothes for way-too-small articles, she wandered through the closet and found this Scooby Doo hat. Later on, I found these old sunglasses. She grabbed them up right away and had me help her with these. So, I grabbed the camera for some ultra-cool shots. Like the cool peace sign?

Benjamin soon joined us by grabbing a hat and sunglasses too.
Aw... biggest brother and littlest sister.

Then Tommy joined in the fun. He had taken off his shirt earlier to expose his cool tattoos.What a pair, eh? I'll tell you what... they keep me hopping!!!

This girl is so flexible. This was just her kicking her legs that I happened to snap a photo in mid flight.


SPECIAL BONUS SCAVENGER HUNT: Find Christy somewhere in these photos. :-)

Recent Antics

First, there was Ben. As an infant, I don't believe he was a troublemaker or problem-child. Granted, when he walked into his two-year-old Sunday School class at church, the girls would cry... but in general, other than loving to knock down big block structures, he was a pretty easy-going kid. He was outgoing, that's for sure. Loved attention and people, and still loves it. But after the "terrible twos", he stopped terrorizing wooden-block cities like Godzilla. He calmed down. Then came Reagan.

Ok, when my daughter Reagan was a toddler, Mike and I thought we had our hands full. She was going to be our "trouble child". (For those who knew us then... remember the blue inked handprints all over our kitchen cabinets, walls, living room walls, shelves, tables, bannister, carpeted stairs, chairs and more... 2 weeks before closing? I know Ben was involved too, but it wouldn't surprise me to find that Reagan was the mastermind.) Granted, Reagan was a pistol who would get into anything and climb anything. Going up the stairs on the OUTSIDE of the bannister was not abnormal to her. We had many crayon and marker wall murals courtesy of Reagan, too. She was very artistic. Then came Tommy.

Oh, Tommy. My dear sweet Tommy. He can melt hearts with a single hug (which he is always so ready to deliver), but is blessed with just too much energy. Sharing, being quiet, taking his time, standing quietly in the supermarket line ... not exactly his fortes. Again, we thought "Oh no... HE'S our trouble child." Sigh.

Now there's Gracelynn. When I saw the way she acted in China and how shy she was in group settings, I thought to myself. "Oh my, what will I do with a shy child? I don't know how to raise one of those." Sure enough, she proved to me that I won't have to worry about that!

She's one to watch 24/7. She loves oranges. However, being unable to properly cut an orange on her own, she's developed her own strategy, rather than ask for help. Slowly pick at the orange in dime-size pieces. When the hole is big enough, squeeze your teeth inside and chomp away. When you can no longer squeeze your mouth inside the hole, dig out the fleshy pulp with your fingers. Oranges are naturally sticky and messy, but Gracelynn gives whole new definition to those words. By the time I usually find her, the pulp is stuck to the tables, chairs, floor, her face and hands and arms and clothes... and everything in sight is a sticky mess. Just walk into our breakfast room, and I bet you can immediately spot Grace's chair. It's the one with the fingerprints that I can't seem to remove.

She loves cereal. She's surprisingly meticulous about cereal... no mess like the oranges. Rather than dig into the box with her fists, like most kids would, she shimmies up onto the counter (yes, really... the girl is a born gymnast), gets out a bowl, pours the cereal into the bowl and then uses a spoon. Surprisingly good job for a three-year-old, I think. Now if only I can convince her to remain at the kitchen table with that bowl of cereal instead of laying on the couch with the bowl on her belly.

The girl is already looking like a typical American three-year-old. The scrapes and bruises on her knees and shins rival those on Tommy's now. :-) She attempts anything. If Tommy can do it, well by golly, then Grace can too!

Yesterday, despite the scariness of what could have happened, we had to giggle...

We have two sickies here today (and last night). Reagan threw up in the morning at school, but seeing as though nothing else happened all day, I let her attend her "Pump it Up" Brownie party that evening. (Bad decision on Mommy's part? Maybe. But the poor girl already missed her other Brownie party at Christmas due to stomach bug, too. I felt so bad at that party since I was the leader and had to go. So, I thought she ought to at least go to this one, especially since she seemed fine and never got sick again. Plus this was her "cookie sales reward".) Wrong! After 30 minutes of jumping and sliding, sure enough... she got sick again. Yuck. So, when I brought her home, I asked her to go straight to the shower and then to bed. (BTW, Tommy is the other sickie now.)

While she was showering, the rest of our family sat and ate dinner. After dinner, Grace so carefully put her plates away in the sink and then ventured upstairs. Since Reagan appears to be Grace's favorite sibling these days (she is the jie jie, after all and we had heard Grace may take better to big sisters than brothers), we figured she was up there talking to Reagan. So, a few minutes later, Mike went up to check on the girls. Once upstairs, he called, "Chris, I think you should come up here." I started thinking about what could be wrong. Did Reagan throw up again? Did she fall asleep in a strange location (not abnormal for Reagan)?

Nope. It was Grace. Naked, wet, and holding a towel in front of her, she was hiding partially behind her closet door. She gave herself a bath. The kids' bathroom drain is going slow these days, so we figure she saw the water in the tub and decided it was time to bathe. She plugged the tub up and washed herself.

Had it been Tommy, I probably would've freaked out on him about the dangers of being in a tub alone, but it was obvious that Grace was hiding herself, like she knew she was in trouble. So, we calmly tried to tell her to never do that again (did she understand, who knows?), but just got her dressed in PJs and walked out, smirking from the humor of it and shaking from the scariness of it.

I know she was probably just thinking that this is what she should do, to be helpful. Oh, Gracelynn, you're fitting into this family better than we realized.

One Month

We can hardly believe it, but it's been one month since we met Gracelynn in China. Wow! A month already... time flies! She's such a blessing to the whole family. Here's an updated photo, taken today.

Grace's Singing and Talking

As you can see in this video, Gracelynn is singing a lot these days. We bought her a "Dance and Learn with Mei Mei" video. It teaches Chinese while little girls sing the songs and dance. The songs are completely in Chinese, and Grace loves it. She sits in there and sings away. The video is of her interpretation of the song "Mama Hao" (Mama hello). She doesn't have the order right, but it's so cute!!!

Her English is coming along great. No big sentences or anything, but here are some of the words she knows:

• Mommy and Mama (depending on the mood)
• Daddy ("dah-DEE"... with a loud syllable at the end)
• Ben
• Reagan ("ray-GAN")
• Tommy ("tom-MEE")
• Aspen (pronounced "Aye-see-ben"... she gives her an extra syllable...usually only says this when Aspen is bugging her or eating her food!)
• Banana
• Poo-poo and Potty (unfortunately she doesn't use these when she should!)
• I see you! (pronounced "iceeyoo"... one word... used with peekaboo)
• Drink
• Ready (... when we're ready to go)
• Hello
• Bye-bye
• Cheese (only when she sees a camera!)

She'll also repeat nearly everything I say, too. Of course, when in a store, talking to a friend, she always clams up and never "performs". LOL

As you may hear in the background, too, she has new squeaky shoes. I felt so bad for her in China when we couldn't find her size of squeaky shoes! She was so sad... she would rub her feet on the marble floor to try to make the squeaking sound. So, I found some squeaky shoes in her size on the Internet. They arrived today. She loves them!!! Even more than the pink ones she wouldn't take off yesterday. ... sigh... Now Tommy wants a pair.

Happy Birthday Ben!

The Hollar Kids

Okay, well taking a photo of four kids can almost never be perfect. At least I got them all to smile! Today is Ben's 9th birthday! I can't believe I have a nine year old. It seems like it was just yesterday when he was an infant crawling on the ground, cracking up at our lively little puppy Aspen.

Today was an eventful day all the way around. Tommy started "camp" at his preschool this week. It's Community week and he's learning all about the neighborhood. After dropping off Tommy, Gracelynn and I ventured on over to the dreaded lab. I was so afraid she'd remember the place and freak out. She was fine. She walked in, played with me in the waiting room, ran back to the lab room, plopped down in the seat and smiled. I don't think she remembered all the poking around 2 weeks ago... well, until they put that blue rubber thing around her arm. Then she tensed up and began to whine. Sure enough she cried a lot, but --oh thank goodness -- they found her vein today! So we don't have to repeat it again. ;-) YAY!!

I just wanted to thank everyone who was so kind these last two weeks to bring us dinners! They were a blessing beyond belief. Even when I began feeling well again, I was still so tired by dinner (four kids is a little tiring) that the dinners were extremely well received!!! We usually even had leftovers for lunch the next day. Wow... thanks so much everyone!

Well, with a birthday comes birthday boy's choice of dinner-out! So, we're heading on out to meet Daddy at Bertucci's! Yum!

And here's the last photo I shot... everyone is looking forward, but they collapsed. Oh... can't remember if I explained the two-fingers-up sign. It means "yes" in China and they do it often with photos.

Enjoying the summer weather...

These last few weeks, the kids have been having a blast on the new Power Wheels Jeep. Tommy and Gracelynn, in particular, love it! They go out nearly daily for their drive. Gracelynn hasn't figured out how to drive, but she loves to ride. In this video, she's having a blast... those are happy yells. :)

Yesterday, we enjoyed a nice weekend with our "dinner group", a few couples that get together every other month to enjoy a dinner and each other's company. This was the one day out of the year where we include the kids. The BBQ was held at our house... and of course, the grill wasn't working. :) We fortunately used our neighbor's grill and all was well. Gracelynn warmed up to the crowd easily enough. She played in the basement rec room with all of the kids, while the grown-ups were upstairs. By the end of the evening, she was repeating everyone's names and even playing Peek A Boo with one of our friends. We'd hear "I see you" from Gracelynn in the next room!

She has become pickier with food as time goes on. I guess it's sinking in that there is a variety of food available to her, so why accept just anything?! Last night, she boycotted her hotdog, but ate up all the pineapple and potato chips! She also LOVED the homemade chocolate ice cream that our friends, the Hroniks, brought. With whipped-cream on top! We've also come to realize that we have a problem. One of our other kids' favorite meals (and thus an easy dinner to create in a pinch) is macaroni and cheese. I don't believe Gracelynn likes it! Ugh. Unfortunately she hasn't learned the mannerly way of just swallowing the food graciously, instead she spits it right out. Well, at least we know when she dislikes something. Ha! Just wish she hadn't done it today at church with a cinnamon roll.

Speaking of church, she's gone to church with me two times now while Mike taught Sunday school and the kids went to their classes. Now granted, I had to feed her nearly nonstop, but she behaved relatively well. Last week she was a little more shy and thus stayed still better. Today she was a little more comfortable and was bee-bopping all over our row of seats. I felt a little bad for the fellow down 6 seats from us when she walked down to him to just stare. :-) I suppose the cry room area would be better suited for her. We hope in the next several months to get her more used to the kids' classes so that she's ready for preschool in the fall.

Her personality is definitely beginning to shine through. And guess what.... we have ANOTHER extroverted, friendly child. How can this be, with two introverted parents? I've found her outside, hanging on the fence, staring at the neighbors and being social. She also warms up quickly to strangers. Once she is comfortable in a situation (like church or soccer games), she'll wander around and be nosey and go up to people and just stare. Yesterday, I couldn't seem to get her to understand that at Tommy's soccer game, she shouldn't go poking around other people's bags and things. She was fascinated with another girl's brightly colored umbrella and started to carry it around.

As you can see in this photo, Grace sleeps well in her new bed. She never stays still (as seen in the photo), but at least she sleeps. Peaceful little girl. The thumb-sucking ONLY occurs at night... must have been her way of soothing herself at the orphanage.