Vi quotes and a couple pictures

The pathetic face of Hand, Foot and Mouth Disease.

Violet didn't have too many lesions on her hands and feet

but her mouth must be awful because it's been almost a week of

crying while eating and waking up during the night crying.

"Could you be quiet, my baby is trying to sleep?"
Day #2 of these pajamas without clothes in between.
It's hard to be the mother of biological, adopted twins.

(Vi says these babies came out of her belly then she adopted them)
"Mommy, maybe when we fly up to Jesus we will go into that garden Adam and Eve were at and we will just look at the fruit and not eat it."

"God's not healing my owies very fast."

"How does God heal owies?"

Here comes Sa-Rang...

Remember a few months ago when I posted about our soon-to-be niece coming home from Korea? Well... Sa-Rang is set to arrive in Chicago next Wednesday, which happens to be the day before her 1st birthday. We would all appreciate prayers for safety and for a smooth transition. Sa-Rang has been in foster care for the past year and it sounds like she was well cared for. This will definitely help her as far as attaching to Rachel and Guy but it might be rough for a little while as she gets used to her family.

The Envy of the Neighborhood (well, not quite)

This weekend Nate put up my brand-new clothesline. I have never used a clothesline and I am already questioning my level of commitment to the idea. I like the money savings, bleaching affect on diapers and whites, and environmental perks, but I am a little nervous about the energy, time, and potential smell of fried foods leaching into the fabric from neighboring homes. Also, I just remembered that it can be make allergies worse. Below are some before, during and after pictures of our clothesline erecting experience. I feel kind of guilty for having a nice, new clothesline when the neighbors stick their socks and underwear through the chain-link fence - maybe we should get them one. I will keep you posted about the laundry situation and whether the clothes make it to the line or get stuck in the dryer.

Helping Daddy dig
Filling the bottom of the hole with rocks

Taking a break from the heavy labor
"I yike chakit"

"This is a messy mess."

A little spotlight envy since I took so many pictures of Anara's messy mess. Tah Dah!

Just peachy

I realize that this is not a major accomplishment but I have probably only made 4 or 5 pies in my career. My most recent pie was a strawberry pie that tasted great but was a little runny. I made a pie last year only to watch the edges burn. The pie before that, shrunk and the crust didn't quite stretch to the edge. Don't get me wrong, I am pretty confident in my culinary prowess but pie baking has never been my forte. Today I baked a peach pie that actually turned out and tasted as good (in my opinion) as it looked. I did have nicely crimped edges but they seemed to have disappeared during the baking process. Maybe you get faster with practice because I can't imagine cranking 5 or 6 of these out for a holiday like my mother-in-law.

I have used good ole Betty Crocker crust in the past and it's good, but I used the crust from Mark Bittman, How to Cook Everything and it was awesome (probably the butter instead of shortening).

It's Hand, Foot and Mouth Disease

Violet's mouth sores have multiplied and spread. She has water-filled blisters and bumps on her hands and feet. We had dinner with friends from our former house church and one of them happens to be a pediatric resident (I know - how convenient, right?). She pointed out the blisters and bumps on Vi's feet and hands (not sure how I missed those). Anyway, at least we won't be seeing Dr. Leland since we know what it is and there is nothing we can do about it. Her cheeks are a little puffy from her mouth sores and she is pretty uncomfortable but it should run its course soon. The worst part is that we took her to a party with 4 other kids all 3 and under not realizing how contagious her little virus is - sorry Sarah, Seth, Sam and Luke.

Why so sick?

This summer has seemed to be non-stop illness for our house (excluding Nate). The girls and I had the never-ending cold that led us to the ENT for Violet's ears in June/July. We recovered from that just in time for Violet to start with a fever and vomiting. Anara and I then had two separate rounds of GI bugs with vomiting. We were healthy for a couple weeks and now Violet has some weird virus that seems to be basically grumpiness, random fevers, crying, and nasty mouth sores. I hope this means that we can have the winter off. Guess it's time to increase the vitamins. I haven't been as faithful giving the girls their supplements since I haven't been able to take mine consistently.

Here are some pictures from this week's healthier moments.

Vi playing with a toy phone under the highchair

Anara before church this morning. Just she and Daddy went today.

A few more quotes

Have you ever seen a longer tongue?

She was trying to impress me with a purple tongue after her frozen blueberries.

Today we were driving in the car and Violet saw a church with a cross on the steeple. Violet said, "Is that the cross that Jesus died on?" I told her that the cross Jesus died on was much bigger and made from wood and we talked about how he had to carry it. Her next question was, "Are they going to put nails in my legs?" I explained that Jesus died so that we could be with Him and that we don't have to die on a cross (we will get to the dying to self later).

Violet and Anara were playing upstairs and I heard a conversation that went like this...
Violet - "Anara, do you want to play blocks with me?"
Anara - "No I play Legos."
Violet - "No, those aren't to play with those are just for looking at."
Anara - "For looking at?"
Violet - "Yeah, those are just decoration."
Anara - "Decoration? Okay, I play blocks Violet."

Nate put the girls down to sleep in the same room tonight. (It was our original plan to have them share a room but they take forever to stop talking and go to sleep so we usually put Violet in the guest room.) He warned the girls to be quiet and not to talk. Anara usually has a difficult time restraining herself so Nate told her to pray to God for help to not talk. After a while he heard Anara chattering away and yelled up the stairs for her to be quiet. Her response was, "I just pwaying."

Yesterday we were listening to a CD of Bible Songs for Kids and a song called "Give me that Old Time Religion" came on and when it was over Violet said, "That lady shouldn't say that Mama." I asked her what she meant and she said, "She shouldn't say 'I want', she should say 'May I have that old time religion'".

Things were pretty quiet one day this week and I wasn't completely sure where the girls were. I headed up the stairs and looked in both bedrooms and the playroom and didn't see them. I thought I heard some giggling so I went into the playroom and found them both hidden in the toy box/house we keep stuffed animals in.

Violet is starting "school" or childcare this week. She will be going from 9-12 one day a week. I was very hesitant and emotional about doing this but several people have recommended that Anara and I spend some quality time together before the baby comes. I took the girls to church today to hand in the required paperwork. I told Violet that we were just turning in paperwork and looking around. Violet is pretty familiar with the setting since it is the same place as the nursery on Sunday and she is even fortunate enough to have a teacher she knows and loves. The teacher saw Violet and excitedly welcomed her. Violet retreated a little and said, "I'm not coming today we are just turning in paperwork." Anara, on the other hand, was ready to run right in and get busy playing.

Kings Island Cont'd

My brother sent me some more Kings Island pics so I decided to add to our collection of Kings Island photos. When I was posting the girls came to look at the computer and both started recalling memories. Violet said, "I wanna go back to Kings Island someday. When are we going to go again?"

Really really excited.

The favorite ride

Anara's least favorite ride Vi is thinking "Who is this guy?"

This isn't a great picture but you can see Violet's hands up in the air

Kings Island and The State Fair

The last couple weeks have been filled with summer activities. Below are some pictures with limited comments.

Dora - a little larger than expected

The helicopter ride with Violet hand out the window
"I ride the cars on the highway" - Anara


Violet was still scared of the pony ride but Anara said, "I not 'cared"
She took this ride very seriously - it was adorable.
Violet with a caramel apple (she basically just licked off the caramel).

Anara eating an almost vegetable.
Hot Air balloon launch 2nd year in a row

A little sleepy since we left our house around 5:30am
Vi drinking a giant lemonade
Wearing a ballerina outfit from Annie
Tea for one
Violet's magic balloons

Quote of the week

Not sure why we are so feces oriented but...

"Oh Grandma I really like your shirt. It looks like my poop."

(We think that she was referring to the color since Grandma was wearing a blue shirt and she has been eating large amounts of blueberries).