50th Wedding anniversary

We'll see if this works. Here goes, it's the slideshow to John's parents 50th Wedding anniversary. It takes awhile to load and then you have to click through the pics. Sorry...

Catching up!

Boy, how time flies when you are having fun. These last few months have been filled with the wonderful antics of my toddlers! They are getting to be so much fun, it's unbelievable what they are capable of. Mostly, they make me laugh. They say this is the terrible twos, and terrifying threes, and I see a bit of that, but for the most part, these are sweet days and they are absolutely delightful. They are home and not at preschool this summer, and for 3 more days, I have summer help. This year I don't think I'll be crying when she leaves. For me, it took at least 2 years of getting over myself, that my time isn't mine, and the most valuable and inmportant thing I have to do is to parent these 2 busy and bright children! This is the time of their lives that I'm going to have the most influence on how they turn out, and I've been convicted that I am the best one to do that. Influencing how a child reacts to new situations, how they deal with new people, and stresses in their life, it is a huge and humbling responsibility. Mom's brag time-for awhile I was worried that my kids would have something organic going on because of their unknown backgrounds with their adoption, ie developmental delays, autism or some autism spectrum disorder, processing disorders...I'm finally feeling relieved from those worries. No speech problems or delays, no echolalia-where they repeat everything you say, they have coherent, thought out speech and original thought patterns not copied from an adult or caregiver, they can sit still by themselves for extended periods of time, tell stories, they have creative independent play(I love this part and watching and listening to them), no obsessions, or unusual fears, particular ways to do things or have them done, or problems with strangers, even those not good with children, or new situations. They also at 2 & 3 are able to do 48 piece puzzles with some assistance, and 24 piece puzzles by themselves. They color within the lines, and know their letters by sight and the sounds they make. Still working on their numbers, but they can almost count to 20 by themselves. They can swim on their backs by themselves for 10 feet, and flip over and swim on their stomachs. They are currently are working on learning how to take breaths while swimming. They dive for their dive sticks, jump into the water and swim back to the edge by themselves. I always get strange looks from people because Phoebe is a peanut at 33 months wearing 18 month old clothes-she might make it to 2T by her birthday...
They say please and thank you, and they often say "I love you", freely and spontaneously!
They go on plane trips like pros probably making elite status by the end of the year...
What's funny is they know where we are going in the car and will tell me when I make a wrong turn...they also correct us, Mommy/Daddy, don't talk with your mouth full. John almost lost it the first time they did this to him, maybe they can change a habit?
Of course they have many things to work on, and their are still some issues from their adoption, but it's a good feeling after working with so many children to see my kids are absolutely normal and very bright!!!

We have had a great summer and it's going way too fast. I had a health scare but now am training for a half marathon with John...slow going! We've been to the zoo, swimming, the children's museum, and we're going to try camping in August! We just got back from the Families formed through International Adoption reunion in Virginia Beach. We are headed towards Washington state later this summer to go to Papa and Nana's 50th Wedding celebration. So now that I've written far too much, here are some pics to go along with this post.