Summer craziness

Leah starts first grade tomorrow, and Hope kindergarten on Wednesday. We're still coming down from Leah's birthday last weekend, and truth be told, Hope's last month! I previously promised pics, so here are a few of late:

Asked what she wanted for her birthday, Hope said, "Jayhawks." A friend asked, "Jayhawk what?" and Hope said, "Anything!" My mom found a Jayhawk cake but when she said she wanted one I told her they didn't make them, so she'd be extra surprised when she saw it. She was. 

 Such a sweet picture. Five candles!

Leah's birthday; she asked to go bowling. Aren't these little bowling shoes adorable?

Leah bowling.

Hope bowling.

School starting means we have a new daytime routine. The girls are going to be going to before and after school care at school and will be at Miss Sheryl's, their previous in-home daycare provider's house, on school holidays and summers. That means I'll be feeding them breakfast before we leave for the school dropoff; Sheryl previously fed them. I saw this recipe on Pinterest - it's for overnight refrigerator oatmeal/porridge. The poster has really cute pictures with Mason jars but I'm feeling exceedingly accomplished to have made a batch (mandarin orange) to see how the girls like it tomorrow. Fingers crossed!

FLASHBACK!

The other day a friend added me to a Facebook group for moms who have or who are adopting from Russia. In a matter of days we were up into the hundreds, which is really cool! The group started making lists of those from specific states, and it turns out there is a local family who is waiting to travel to the same region we did; they'll be staying in the same hotel, etc. Brian and I spent some time today putting together some information about our experiences in the city and before the judge and the memories have made me even more nostalgic. This pic is from one of the endless days from two years ago, getting ready to leave the hotel with Hope's kukla (doll) along for the ride, and sunhats on. It was wicked hot but we also got really dirty looks from Russians if we didn't have their sunhats on.

Happy birthday, Leah!

Our Leah is six today! She told me the other day she wanted to go bowling, so bowling we went, along with family and friends. Then it was back to our house for lunch, presents, cake, ice cream and punch. The girls' birthdays are a bit bittersweet for me as they remind me they were born to another woman across the world from me and that I never knew them as babies. I remind myself I'll have the rest of their birthdays as their mommy, mama or mom, whatever my name of the moment is.

We assumed custody of the girls just a few weeks after Hope turned 3 and just a few weeks before Leah turned 4. So, this was the third birthday we got to celebrate with her! How times have changed. The first birthday together we walked to the pedestrian mall with the girls (we walked there a lot. A. Lot.) and bought ice cream cones. Neither really understood the concept of a birthday, nor could we communicate birthdays to them since we spoke different languages. The baby home told us they celebrated once a month the birthdays of children born that month, but I'm not certain I entirely believe that. I am pretty certain that the girls didn't get treats like ice cream cones, so those we had on Leah's fourth birthday were quite the unusual experience!

This is what that day looked like:

I'll post pictures of today later, when I either download them from the camera or when my dad sends me his!