Halloween and mom and dad visit

I searched and searched the internet for costume ideas for KOA and finally found one that was relatively easy and somewhat unique.  We were........garden gnomes!!!

Sadly, our group did not win the costume competition and this was likely our best shot.... we were robbed!  The walking dead won :(.  Ainsley won for her age group and Khalif got the 3rd place prize, so at least they won something!  The kids did the usual all weekend, jumped on the jumpy pillow for hours, rode bikes/scooters and hung out with their friends.  

The entire group:

It was a very fun evening....lots of adult treats (jello shots/regular shots) and some were really tasty :o).  Mom and dad and I danced the night away!  The kids were here and there having all kinds of fun with their friends and eating way too much candy.  The rain started around 8 PM, so we headed indoors, which was probably good because we all got a good night sleep.  We woke to pouring down rain...it was quite a feat to get everything in the car and dad and Ryan were soaked...not to mention 2 boys who went out without umbrellas (glad I brought 6 of them!).  It made for an uncomfortable ride home for them.
We won't talk about the bush that mom flattened.....

The rest of mom and dad's visit was pretty packed with adoption activities (pretty cool the timing worked that they could be here for the court date and party!), corn picking, yard work and the Cougar/Stanford football game.  

It has been a few years since we picked popcorn and my stash was getting quite low, so we made the trek to Ardenwood Farms to pick popcorn.

 What a great Cougar upset!  We had some fun watching a very loud and animated elderly Coug fan...

 The fall trimming....

It felt like the Halloween activities went on forever.  We had the school parade and then trick or treating.  

Ainsley with her best bud, Makayla.

Ainsley decided to wear my old gymnastics suit/warm up and be a gymnast.  I didn't realize what that suit was for, but it said on the back Jr. Elite and I think Ainsley thought that was pretty cool.  Mom and dad brought a bag of all my stuff and it was a perfect fit!

We went around our neighborhood and ran into many school friends.  It was a busy, little area!

Asia

Ryan went to Asia in Sept. and he flew my mom here to help me.  It was a great stress off of me, just to know that I wasn't alone.  Thank you mom!  The time went by quick and we were consumed by the daily grind, but we did do a couple of fun things.
We made homemade pasta:

We went to the pool:

We played bocce and mom caught a praying mantis:

Khalif had a rough week when Ryan was traveling.  He got in trouble several days at school and had 2 accidents.  It was very unusual and I didn't put it together until Ryan came back that it was likely because he was gone.  Sometimes, he is just not able to deal with change or things out of our normal routine.  His teacher is very glad it resolved!
Other than that, things were good on our end....The weather was great and mom got to read a whole book, maybe even two!  Of course, she had her fun in the yard and I let her!  We planted beets, peas and lettuce, but there's whole bunch of carrots coming in (we think).  We have put so many carrot seeds in that planter and never had any grow.  Well, mom turned over the soil and made everything soft instead of clay like, so now maybe they are taking root.
Ryan didn't have the best trip....stomach issues, sleep issues and a sprained ankle.  He was very glad to come home and we were all very have him home.  He brought the kids presents and it took them hours to put together.  Apparently, all the pieced were in one big bag and they spent a lot of time sorting and looking for pieced, but it turned out amazing!

Back yard

We finally finished the backyard!  It is so enjoyable to go out there now.  We have a nice lighted fountain, solar lights, umbrellas for shade and I finally got a hammock!  I've wanted one for awhile and I think Ryan thought I was crazy, but everyone has been using it a lot :o).

You can see the leaves....so annoying!  The neighbors on both sides have very messy trees and we have to blow once every week or sometimes we can get away with a little longer.  Luckily, it is Reggie's favorite chore :o).  We never minded the mess before because we never used the space, but now it is nice to keep it clean.
We had our first barbecue since we moved in 4 years ago and it was so much fun!  I was a little worried that we couldn't absorb that many kids, but we never saw them...they were in the secret room, playing cornhole, on the trampoline or playing basketball/4 square.  It really worked out great.

Khalif update

Taking a break on one of our Pokemon hunting walks

Found one in the car!

 We signed the adoption paperwork on Sept. 6th!!!  That officially took him out of the foster system, but he is still in limbo until we officially see the judge Friday, Oct. 7th.  It is all happening very quickly now and thankfully, his anxiety has seemed to settle down a bit.
He learned to ride a bike over the 3 day weekend and that was interesting.  Unfortunately, he is so quick to give up and it seems like we have to be really firm and stern in some situations or he never will get out of his comfort zone.  We pretty much said that we weren't leaving until he figured it out!  It was a great learning experience for him and reinforced why we don't give up.  By the end of the session, he went the entire way around the track and was pretty proud of himself!

Teaching the neighbor Noah how to play the piano!

Playing a duet with his teacher:

Khalif has also started swimming with the Blue Dolphins, where Reggie swims.  He was hesitant to do that as well, but we told him we were just trying it for a week or two and he seemed o.k. with that.  We decided to start him out slow, having him go for about 45 min-1 hour, 2 days a week, but last week he was bummed when Reggie was going and he didn't get to, so he asked if he could go the extra day!  I guess he really likes it!  Now he is going for the full hour and a half and it seems to be helping with his sleep issues (we had to wake him up at 7:30 today!!!).  This is a big deal since he has such a hard time falling asleep and wakes up like clock work at 6:30.  Most days I look at him after school and he has that blank, tired stare.  I hope he can catch up on some long lost sleep :o).

Falling apart

Hmmm....where to begin.  Ryan left for Singapore/Hong Kong last Saturday and he has had a difficult time with the time change and food.  He had stomach issues since day 2, but finally today might be turning the corner.  Just in time to deal with his horribly sprained ankle which happened last night when he tripped on a road reflector after watching the Formula one race cars.  It is very swollen and he has been icing, so it must be pretty bad.  These things tend to happen when he travels, but usually to us here, so I guess he can share a bit in the misery.
Ainsley has been having wrist issues for a very long time and we finally took her in at the beginning of school and she has inflammation of the growth plates on both wrists.  This is a very common gymnastics injury and it sounds like this is something we are just going to have to manage, but since then, it has just been getting worse and worse.  She finally had some relief over the 3 day weekend and could do a handstand without pain, but then went back to school and jacked it up playing tetherball (which I think she started playing the 2nd week of school and is likely why she wasn't improving).  Now it has moved to her thumb and she is unable to do bars and she is very disappointed about that.  It has been a month now and she hasn't been doing much at gym, we've been icing and using ibuprofen, saw the hand specialist and the more good we try to do, the worse it seems to get.  She got a brace today and hopefully that will stabilize everything and she can finally feel better.  We have another appointment on Monday with the sports specialist, so hopefully, she has some idea of what is going on.  It is very hard to not be able to do anything and know she can't do what she loves :(.
On to K.  He has been struggling with anxiety lately and we can't seem to find the source.  We have a new therapist and she has been doing new activities with us and it has been really eye opening.  He has some things so deeply rooted and he is totally unaware of what he is feeling.  He is always waiting for something bad to happen :(.  We've had more night time wake-ups the last month than in his whole life.  He also had a rough week at school this week and regressed with the potty.  Hopefully, he will settle soon.
I had my fun a couple weeks ago playing on the trampoline with Ainsley.  Did lots of back drops and back tucks/front tucks and something didn't agree with my body because the next day, my upper back seized and I could hardly turn my head.  I was in some real pain for a few days, but then it got better during the day, but the nights were rough.  Last night was the first night that I felt pretty close to normal!  Yay for me!!!
Reggie has been the lucky one, aside from his normal headaches, he is good.  Grandma is good too....Ryan flew her here to help me out and she's been fixing up the yard, replanting things and planting things.  Its been great!
Please pray for healing for our family!!!

Summer's over!

I never finished blogging the end of summer....we took our annual trip to Lummi and celebrated Ainsley and Khalif's birthdays.  We found lots and lots of starfish this year, collected a bunch of seaglass, visited the rock beach and the school.  We also had another little bat friend, but he only showed himself to grandma in the middle of the night and she opened the door so he could fly out and we are going to go with that.  The kids just love that place!

 Pretty rough life they have!

 Playing with the new nail stamper that Ainsley got for her birthday

I decided to have a little party for Ryan's 40th, but I told him the party was for the kids birthdays (since they are all in the same general time frame), so it would be easier to plan and talk about.  It was a good turn-out of friends and family and I didn't have a good plan on how it would go down, so Gloria wished Ryan a happy birthday when she arrived and she didn't realize he didn't know it was his party, but he didn't get it, so I finally told him.

 Mom and Dad's gift to Ryan....corn hole!  We have dented the plastic because we have played so much and I am still feeling tendinitis in my elbow from the summertime.

The kids enjoyed the party as well.  There was a lot of nail salon and hair happenings:

Grandma Gloria missed the party, but came up later and it was soooo good to see her.  It has been way too long!

It has been close to 15 years since I went water skiing, but I felt inspired to go this year.  I got up on the first try, but it was a lot harder than I remember.  My mom thought she was recording and wasn't so you'll just have to take my word for it!  Ainsley tried again with the bigger ski's and did a great job.  She actually liked it better than the learning ski's.  Ryan ripped it up too :o)

My specialty is kneeboarding, so I was very excited when the kids tried it and a switch went off in Reggie.  He wanted to go everyday!  He tried and tried to get outside the wake and finally did and then it was Ainsley's turn, but she didn't quite get there.  It was so much fun....Khalif went and because he is so tiny, he could start sitting on the board...he didn't even have to get up.  Next year should be lots of fun!

Reggie so badly wanted me to go over the wake backwards and I had never done it, but I said I would give it a try and he was very impressed!

Olympic Trials

We were lucky enough to be able to go to the Olympic Trials in San Jose in July!  It was much more fun this go around since Ainsley was a big fan (4 years ago she and Reggie were ready to go long before the night was over).  We tried to take advantage of all the activities and meet gymnasts and we were very tired at the end of the 3 days, but, it was worth it!!!  The 2nd night was a concert and tribute to all the US Olympic gymnasts going back to the 1950's.  They invited all of them and several showed up and it was a blast from the past to hear some of the names, people that I thought were great when I was little, Phoebe Mills, Kristi Phillips and of course Shannon Miller.  Ainsley scored a ticket to go on the floor during the event and she had a blast with her buddies.  We also ran into some of her old teammates and her past coach that was a favorite, who since moved to Florida. She also saw her least favorite coach from the past!  Crazy in a packed stadium to find so many people we knew.  We even ran into a classmate from her school!

The amazing Simone Biles

 Olympic team and alternates

Enjoying activites in the village:

Svetlana Boginskaya (gymnast from the 90's)

Ainsley spent the week going to gymnastics practice at her gym and we had her birthday party on her day off.  She was very sore, but happy to see her friends.  The boys had all kinds of fun with Aunt Liha, Grandma and Grandma Peggy!

The boys had all kinds of fun with Aunt Liha, Grandma and Grandma Peggy and Uncle Dustin (they took the boys to Wild Waves!).  The boys enjoying the lake:

 Ainsley also had a pool party with her teammates at a place in Pleasanton that I didn't even know existed.  When I hit the lotto, that is where I would want to live....It was so beautiful!

She's 10!

It was quite a birthday for Ainsley!   We went in with Grandma Peggy for her birthday present and her dream to swim with the dolphins finally came true :o).  It was worth every penny....she absolutely loved it.  Those of us watching got a nice show too.  Probably the closest I have ever been to a dolphin, but I think I might even want to do it one day.  We had a quick lesson and education on dolphins that was very interesting (we saw the birth of a dolphin as well).  It was nice to hear how many of their animals have been rescued, but are unfortunately unable to go back into the wild.  One of their dolphins was rescued from Texas and had seizures, but now that it has been medicated it hasn't had one for 5 years.  We also saw the oldest known living dolphin in captivity at a whopping age 52.  Typical life span is 35 and he looked old and a little heavy set.  We noticed he was different right away!  Now she wants to be a dolphin trainer!

It will actually be really fun to see what Ainsley ends up doing as a career.  She loves her nails, doing other peoples nails, doing her friends hair and playing with toddlers and taking care of babies, so I think her options are limitless.  She'll probably do nothing related to any of those things!  We just want her to find something she loves and with God's direction, go for it :o).
Ainsley has become quite adventurous this year...trying new things and being more open to getting a little out of her comfort zone and that has been really fun to watch.  She water skied and kneeboarded at the lake and when we visited Grandma Pam, she saw the hang gliders and wants to give that a try at some point!
She is still as giggly as ever, especially after meal times.  We had her birthday party a couple weeks ago and after dinner one of her friends said, "Ainsley, I have never seen you like this....its like you are drunk!"  Many times we just send her outside to get her energy out.  It would be nice if she could share that with the rest of us!  It is hard to believe she is already 10...time is starting to go even faster these days.  We love her so much!!!!