What a Week...New Glasses

This week was...well.  It was.  Somehow I survived it though and we are all still alive to tell about it.  I wasn't sure I was going to make it.  Either that, or Ira.

I've known since the hosting program that Ira needed glasses.  Little One also needed some (though I suspected not as bad) so they both had eye dr. appointments on Tuesday.  First, I took Little One and she was super nervous.  I tried to explain to her what it's like and that's it's actually really kinda cool.  She was super clingy, but did awesome.  The dr. let me sit on the chair with her on my lap and that helped a ton.  Pretty soon she was doing great and VERY excited to pick out frames.  She got some cute pinky purple ones with hearts on them.  She should get them tomorrow.

Then I went to pick Ira up from school and take her to the dr. as well.  That didn't go over so well.  She was mad the whole way there.  I told her that even the dr. in Ukraine had said she needed glasses.  She said, "Ukraine dr." and then did a gun to her head thing.  I told her I'm sorry she thought the dr. there was stupid, but she needed glasses and that's where we were going.

We got there and I'd already filled out the paperwork for her when I was there for Little One.  She was taken back to do the preliminary stuff and she tried hard to refuse to do what she needed to.  Including the "I don't understand" thing when I knew she could.  We were then taken into the actual exam room and she sat there and sobbed (yeah, not just cried) while she played on my iPod as we waited for the dr.  He walked in and said we weren't doing well with  either girl today. LOL  She was a little more cooperative with him than she'd been with the lady that did the other stuff, but she was still had a very bad attitude.  Sure enough, her eyes are really bad.  Like almost as bad as mine already.

Then came the fun of picking out frames.  I had her sit down and the lady asked what her favorite colors were.  She said, "Nothing."  The lady said she'd pick out something that she thought would fit her and we'd go from there.  As soon as she turned around Ira pushed all her hair in front of her face like Cousin It.  She refused to try any frames on, so I put them on her myself.  As soon as I'd get one on she'd rip them off and make gagging sounds.  Seriously??  Are we 12 or are we 2?  She was arguing with me the whole time too.  Sometimes in English, sometimes in Russian.  It's probably good I didn't understand her or I imagine we'd have been headed home to wash her mouth out. LOL  It came down to 3 different frames and she REFUSED to pick.  I told her I would if she didn't, and after MANY attempts to get her to pick she still wouldn't.  I picked some cute blue ones.  They go really well with her eyes and look really nice on her.

I heard all kinds of fun things.  She doesn't like blue.  (Well, she had plenty of chances to pick different ones.) She isn't going to wear them.  If I like blue, I can wear them.  Why won't I let her get contacts? (We're not dealing with a super responsible child here.  I'm not going to do contacts unless she shows me she can take care of glasses first.)  She doesn't want to live.  Everyone is going to laugh at her.  She's going to lock herself in her room and never come out.  She won't ever eat.  I don't love her, I only love Karissa.  She wants Ukraine. *sigh*  No, I don't take it personally, but it's still very frustrating.

You can imagine how things went on Thursday when I got a call saying her glasses were ready.  Pretty much the same as trying on frames.  I had to haul her little hide outside and tell her to knock it off.  She is 12, not 2.  Getting her to keep the stupid things on was fun too.  I told her she had to wear them.  It wasn't a choice.  If she didn't (or if she lost/broke them) then there would be no discussion of contacts at all.  There would be no Wii, no TV, no contact (Russian FB), no friends, nothing.  And, I only made her wear them for an hour that first day.  I remember I'd get a headache whenever I'd get a new prescription so I didn't want to do that to her.

Having her wear them on Friday after school was fun too.  She doesn't want anyone to see her in them so I was mean and made her wear them to my parent's house.  I had to pull over 3 times because she kept taking them off.  Then she wouldn't put them on when she walked into the house.  She finally did though and kept them on for the 2 hours that day.  Yesterday she did fine with it was 3 hours so hopefully we're pretty must past that now.  Tuesday will be hard because that's the first day I told her she'd have to wear them to school. I'm going to walk her in that day and talk with her teacher.  I don't care if she leaves them with her teacher for recess, but she needs to wear them the rest of the time.

I'm getting really sick of all the tantrums.  Holy cow.  Today has actually been nice though.  There was only a small fight to go to church and she's been fairly pleasant since then.  Maybe we're on a little bit of an uphill climb now?  I hope?  I'm not sure how much farther down this roller coaster can go so hopefully we're going up. :)  I hope to get pictures when she's up to the thought of that.

Advanced Photography Class

I mentioned that I took an advanced photography class last week and promised pictures.  Here are some of my favorites.

You Have GOT to be Kidding...

So, we had some lemon chicken cooking for dinner.  Ira loves chicken.  It's one of the few things she doesn't complain about.  Not only that, but it has red potatoes with it.  She also loves potatoes.

While it was in the oven she'd said, "I nyet like it smell." a few times. Then she comes down to the basement with her bottle of shampoo open.  She squeezes it over and over so she gets the strawberry smell to come out, saying how the smell of the food is gagging her.  Can we say, "Drama Queen?"  Holy cow.

And yes, I've decided having her gone most of the day helps tremendously.  Today hasn't gone so well in the "not fighting" category.

We've improved a little about church however.  I must end on a positive note, you know. :)  She pouted and kept saying how she doesn't like church and likes HER church in Ukraine, but there wasn't a huge fight.  Nor did I hear ALL through sacrament meeting how she wanted to only stay for 1, not 3 (meaning hours.)  She only said it once. :)  Yeah for baby steps!

First Week of School

Despite all the protests and only hearing, "I nyet school." she ended up loving it.  I love the ESL teacher she has.  The classroom teacher is okay.  I stayed with her until first recess on Monday and she wasn't too thrilled that I left.  She seemed quite uncomfortable as she was asked to do things, and honestly, I don't blame her on some of them.  What part of "Doesn't understand English." do some people not get??  Ah well.  I didn't put her in for academics.  I put her in to help her meet new friends and to help motivate her to work harder learning English.  Next year we'll worry about academics.  When I came to pick her up that day though, she was very happy and said she loved it.

She had a field trip on Wednesday and who knows what they did, but she seemed to enjoy it.  The rest of the week went pretty much the same.  She'd be very happy and excited when I'd pick her up and tell me all about what she played with the kids.  Mostly boys.  I'm not too thrilled about this. :)  Baptism by fire, right?

She was asked to do a math test that was WAY beyond what she can do.  Even if she understood the concepts, a lot was story problems.  In English. *rolls eyes*  She was almost in tears as I was asking her about it and trying to help.  She was just guessing on the answers.  I have a feeling homework is going to be a struggle when we get to that point.

I had an advanced photography class on Wednesday.  4 hours of bliss. :)  We met downtown at a couple of different locations and first shot an adorable girl.  Then we did a family of 4.  Both were quite interesting and I had a blast.  I always get a little nervous (to take over and start directing a subject) around the teacher since I think he's such an awesome photographer and I think I'm going to say something dumb.  LOL  It was still amazing though.  It helped that there were only 3 of us in the class so we got plenty of time for questions and to have him look at our cameras to help us get something better right then and there.  The only problem is that I need more equipment.  I need a flash, a small stand/umbrella, a laptop and a mac version of Photoshop.  Not exactly cheap.  Must think....  Anyone need pictures done so I can earn the money to get them?? ;)  I'll post some of my favorites from the day once I can get the computer to quit being weird/Lightroom will work.

Last night I went out to dinner with some of my favorite people in the world.  There were 5 of us, 4 of whom have recently returned from adopting in Ukraine and 1 who is hoping to go within the next few weeks.  Stephanie H., Kerry S., Nan C., Ranee H., and me.  We all went to Zupa's (sp??) and ate and talked and talked.  Then when they closed we went and sat in Steph's car and talked more. :)  We shared horror stories of how our kids are doing, what different school situations are and different things that happened while we were in Ukraine.  Somehow, we didn't manage to scare Stephanie into not going! LOL  It was a wonderful night and one I hope to repeat often.  I didn't get home until about midnight and was exhausted, but it was good.

Ira and Little One are doing fairly well, for the most part.  I honestly think having Ira gone most of the day has really helped that.  I'm turning into one of those parents I've always complained about.  You know the type (and perhaps you ARE one.)  You panic at the thought of trying to find things to do for the summer.  You anxiously anticipate that coveted first day of school.  Yeah.  I used to think such people were horrible.  Why do you even HAVE kids if all you can do is count down the days until they're gone for 7 hours at a time??  Well, never say never, apparently.  I honestly hope to not be in this category for long, but it has at least given me some empathy for those I've always frowned upon.  My apologies for having frowned.

Ups and Downs...mostly downs

First off, a question.  I've GOT to get this form into the Ukrainian embassy and I'm not sure about 2 of the questions.  Since I'm having trouble getting in touch with the embassy, I will ask here.  First, it asks from where we entered the USA.  Since we flew Kiev<Paris<Salt Lake does that mean I put Kiev or Paris?  Then, it asks for an issuing agency on her passport.  I can't find this info anywhere on her passport.  Help!!

Wow.  The last few days have been interesting.  At first Ira really enjoyed doing the English program we have on the computer.  Now that it's gotten a little harder though, she's decided she doesn't like it.  Mom will be working with Little One for school and Ira will just up and go downstairs to play Barbies.  When I went down to tell her that this was her school for the time being, she argues and asks why, pouts, comes upstairs, sits at the laptop (which I really need to get back to Mom and Dad....) and closes the thing.  You can lead a horse to water, right? *sigh*  At least she sat there.

Wednesday we had a MAJOR fight to get her to mutual.  And this was even a fun one!  It was combined with the YM and they were doing human fooseball (how do you spell that??)  She was hiding under her bed, crying and wouldn't come out.  When I finally got her out from under there she went to the couch and refused to get off.  By this time she was sobbing and saying she doesn't like church.  She likes it in Ukraine (though she did clarify that she likes it in the village, NOT in Dnepro where I'd taken her to the branch...LOL)  I told her she wasn't IN Ukraine, she was in America and this is what we do.  Then I get, "I want Ukraine!"  Yeah, well, so do I.  But she can't go right now anymore than I can, so this is what we're doing.  At this point I was about ready to sit down and cry with her.  If Husband hadn't been there ready to take her and we hadn't been so late already, I probably would have.  Little One was crying too because she wanted Daddy to stay with her and not me.  How cow!  I finally gave her the choice of having me or him go with her and she wanted me to.  My hair and my clothes were all wet because I'd just gotten back from running and it had been raining, but hey.  Whatever.  She wouldn't put her tennis shoes on because she was NOT going to play.  Again, whatever.  Whether or not she played or even had fun was her decision.  Going was not.  She did refuse to play, but she smiled and laughed at watching the other kids play and was as cheerful as could be when we got home. *rolls eyes*

In other news, she's starting school on Monday.  After much thought and prayer I'm really feeling like homeschooling isn't the best for her.  At least right now.  Maybe there will be a time when I can pull her out again or maybe even do a part-time public school thing, but for now this is what I feel is best for her.  We met with the principal of the elementary school yesterday.  Age wise, she's in 6th and if she's going to Jr. High in the fall then it will be good for her to get to know some kids first.

She's not happy about this.  I don't know how many times I heard yesterday that she doesn't want school.  What?  She has to do math?  Heaven forbid.  She likes PE and that's it.  Well, sorry kid.  You can't have a whole day of PE classes.  She's understandably worried about it not being a Russian school.  "I don't understand." she keeps telling me.  I told her this will help her learn English and that soon she WILL understand.  Honestly, I'm expecting a battle like getting her to mutual when it's time for her to go on Monday morning.  I'm already planning to wake her up plenty early in order to allow time for such a tantrum.

She's still mean to Little One and has just learned to be a little sneakier about it.  Little One does her fair share of being annoying too though.  And no.  I do NOT want to hear about how kids fight so this is totally normal.  Sorry, but the scriptures say to not allow them to fight.  I just haven't figured out HOW to apply that yet. :)

Cook's Coming Home

Last night I headed back to the airport, by myself this time, to see Cook's come home.  The girls really needed to get to bed.  I expected it to be fun, but I had no idea.  To me it almost felt like a family reunion.

When we first flew out to Ukraine we flew with Roger and Nan.  We got the same flights as they did and really, really enjoyed spending the time with them.  Our apartments were in the same building and we did most everything in Kiev those first days together.  Once we each headed out on our respective night trains, we didn't see each other again except for Skype, but we kept in touch a lot and followed each other through our processes.

There were a LOT of people there!  They had a lot of family as well as a lot of SAC family there.  Kim and Andy, Kerry, David, Vern and Nanette, Andreas, Craig, and who knows who I'm missing.  I really felt like I was among family.

When they came through the gate it was so fun!  All the kids were off hugging other people and no one was claiming Nan, so I did.  I got a HUGE hug from her and it was so nice!  I've missed her so much!  It was wonderful to be there and to visit with everyone.  I love all you guys!!!!!!!!!

The crowd

The crowd

Coming in!

Visiting

I don't know which new name belongs to which child. :O

David

More visiting

And yet more....

The whole family

Smile!

My traditional picture

Extended family

I thought this was cute. :)

These kids were NOT too thrilled with all the pictures.

Everyone there (except for David who took the picture.)

Nan and I.  Yea!!!!

Welcome home!!!!!!!

Hansen's Coming Home

Yesterday was a day for airport arrivals.  Sunday night I took Ira and headed to the airport to see Ranee Hansen and her new son, Myck come home.  When we got downstairs there was no one there except for Andreas, who we'd walked in with.  After some checking we finally found out that they'd gotten delayed in Germany which had made them miss their flight in Denver.  What ended up happening was they found a mouse on the plane so they had to get everyone off and find a new plane.  Since 747's aren't just lying around (Dale's words :)) it took them 4 hours to take off.  They got put up in Denver and arrived yesterday morning at 9:45.  I'm so glad I went!  At first I was worried something else had happened because I didn't see anyone with signs or balloons.  I finally went up to the one guy that looked familiar and sure enough, it was Dale. :)  Welcome home!

Coming out

Dad gets a big hug (sorry it's blurry!)

Ranee and I were filming each other. LOL

Is picking someone up a kid thing?  My youngest does this too!

Hugs!

:)

There were balloons and a sign after all!

I have to have one shot like this every time.  It's become tradition.

Yea!  Happy family!

Even happier with grandparents. :)