I have taught Elliott and Nicky how to mow the lawn! It is so good to have someone help with the yard work! They are at the 85% level now – apparently, in the Ukraine they don’t have much grass and they just find it and mow it. Maybe as the grass gets thicker they will be able to tell where they need to concentrate their efforts. I showed Elliott how the gas trimmer works but I can tell it will take some experience with that before the edge looks right.
We took a tree down in the front yard and had fun with that. I
climbed the extension ladder and cut the limbs and they trimmed them on the ground while I supervised. I borrowed a chain saw to do the main trunk and Nicky wanted to try his hand at that – I don’t think so! Elliott wanted to do one of the main limbs so I let him and he realized that it was a lot of work (see picture). He has more respect for me now!!
One Saturday, we got six yards of mulch and spread it around. Nicky and Elliott made a competition out of it. Although I don’t quite think they understand why Americans put mulch down and where it comes from! I get it from across the street where there is a tree recycling business. They dump two yards in the truck at a pop and then we go spread it. I’m nice…I bought each one of the boys their very own pitch fork. I’m gonna get ‘em each a rake this fall too!!
Easter week was very special for our family. We attended several Easter services throughout the week at various churches and watched "The Passion" together. We are so thankful for the understanding that the boys have about the cross and their salvation. Thank you Jesus! We shared Easter dinner with our good friends, The Hathaways. It was a true blessing as they were so instrumental in our adoption (they were the first family to to adopt from Williamsburg 5 years ago). For Easter we have a tradition where we hide a bunch of Hershey’s kisses all over the house and then have the kids find them. Since Ty wasn't here we had to explain to Elliott and Nicky what the object was. In the past, our kids don’t find all the kisses and we can’t remember where we put them all so we end up finding them all year long (some are in not too good of condition when they are found!). Nicky and Elliott are dedicated kiss hunters. We hid 85 and after much determination & diligence they found 82 of them. (I may have eaten one or two myself while hiding them or maybe we miscounted!). I got all the boys a disciples crosses (made from carpenters nails and red, white, and blue wire) with a black leather string. They loved them..along with the supersoaker squirt guns and frisbees!
Nicky and Ty have become good friends and when at home, are together 24/7. They are more
like brothers than uncle and nephew! They are over riding the school bus and for the past month they either ride their bikes to school or walk together. We are cherishing those times knowing that next year Nicky will go to middle school and it will be over. Nicky & Ty have both started gymnastics and all three boys love to play football and baseball on our side yard. The neighbors have graciously allowed them to use the basketball hoop and only one window has been broken...so far! (I won't say which boy broke the window!)
School is going good for Nicky – he had to do a science report and put the report on a backboard. I got approval from the teacher to have Nicky pick the topic and then I would help him find reference material on the topic. I was going to have him write it in Russian and then he would explain it to me and I would write it in English. As we covered the reference material, I had him take notes. After we were done I told him to write it up. The next day he showed it to me and all he did was rewrite the notes. I realized pretty quick that he couldn’t write it in Russian as the terms were all new to him and he only knew the English for them but he didn’t know enough English to write the report. I explained the format for a report and coached him through it. He gave me the information he wanted and I wrote the report as we discussed it. He then at down and meticulously copied it word for word (he caught a lot of mistakes that I had made!!). He decided what pictures to print from the internet. He couldn't wait to tell me to tell us that he got an "A". Way to go, Nicky!
Last weekend, we took the Nicky and Elliott hiking in the Blue Ridge Mountains on Friday. Elliott was on spring break and we took Nicky out of school for the day. The weather was great Friday and there was supposed to be a nor’easter on Saturday. We were concerned that that the hike may be too difficult for Ty so he so he spent the weekend with his other grandparents. We chose a circuit hike in the Shenandoah
National Forest known as Old Rag (for Old Raggedy Mountain). The entire circuit is about is about eight miles with a total rise in elevation of about 2500 ft. What is really neat about this hike is there is a rock scramble for the last mile and a half. The only problem we encountered was keeping them from running the entire hike. After we got to the summit and ate we gave in and let them run all the way back. As we were WALKING back down the mountain we would ask folks we passed "Have you seen two boys run by?" Many people laughed and said "Yeah, they were flying". We spent the night in Luray, had a great meal and went to Luray Caverns the next day. A great time was had by all!
We took a tree down in the front yard and had fun with that. I
climbed the extension ladder and cut the limbs and they trimmed them on the ground while I supervised. I borrowed a chain saw to do the main trunk and Nicky wanted to try his hand at that – I don’t think so! Elliott wanted to do one of the main limbs so I let him and he realized that it was a lot of work (see picture). He has more respect for me now!!One Saturday, we got six yards of mulch and spread it around. Nicky and Elliott made a competition out of it. Although I don’t quite think they understand why Americans put mulch down and where it comes from! I get it from across the street where there is a tree recycling business. They dump two yards in the truck at a pop and then we go spread it. I’m nice…I bought each one of the boys their very own pitch fork. I’m gonna get ‘em each a rake this fall too!!
Easter week was very special for our family. We attended several Easter services throughout the week at various churches and watched "The Passion" together. We are so thankful for the understanding that the boys have about the cross and their salvation. Thank you Jesus! We shared Easter dinner with our good friends, The Hathaways. It was a true blessing as they were so instrumental in our adoption (they were the first family to to adopt from Williamsburg 5 years ago). For Easter we have a tradition where we hide a bunch of Hershey’s kisses all over the house and then have the kids find them. Since Ty wasn't here we had to explain to Elliott and Nicky what the object was. In the past, our kids don’t find all the kisses and we can’t remember where we put them all so we end up finding them all year long (some are in not too good of condition when they are found!). Nicky and Elliott are dedicated kiss hunters. We hid 85 and after much determination & diligence they found 82 of them. (I may have eaten one or two myself while hiding them or maybe we miscounted!). I got all the boys a disciples crosses (made from carpenters nails and red, white, and blue wire) with a black leather string. They loved them..along with the supersoaker squirt guns and frisbees!Nicky and Ty have become good friends and when at home, are together 24/7. They are more
like brothers than uncle and nephew! They are over riding the school bus and for the past month they either ride their bikes to school or walk together. We are cherishing those times knowing that next year Nicky will go to middle school and it will be over. Nicky & Ty have both started gymnastics and all three boys love to play football and baseball on our side yard. The neighbors have graciously allowed them to use the basketball hoop and only one window has been broken...so far! (I won't say which boy broke the window!)School is going good for Nicky – he had to do a science report and put the report on a backboard. I got approval from the teacher to have Nicky pick the topic and then I would help him find reference material on the topic. I was going to have him write it in Russian and then he would explain it to me and I would write it in English. As we covered the reference material, I had him take notes. After we were done I told him to write it up. The next day he showed it to me and all he did was rewrite the notes. I realized pretty quick that he couldn’t write it in Russian as the terms were all new to him and he only knew the English for them but he didn’t know enough English to write the report. I explained the format for a report and coached him through it. He gave me the information he wanted and I wrote the report as we discussed it. He then at down and meticulously copied it word for word (he caught a lot of mistakes that I had made!!). He decided what pictures to print from the internet. He couldn't wait to tell me to tell us that he got an "A". Way to go, Nicky!
Last weekend, we took the Nicky and Elliott hiking in the Blue Ridge Mountains on Friday. Elliott was on spring break and we took Nicky out of school for the day. The weather was great Friday and there was supposed to be a nor’easter on Saturday. We were concerned that that the hike may be too difficult for Ty so he so he spent the weekend with his other grandparents. We chose a circuit hike in the Shenandoah
National Forest known as Old Rag (for Old Raggedy Mountain). The entire circuit is about is about eight miles with a total rise in elevation of about 2500 ft. What is really neat about this hike is there is a rock scramble for the last mile and a half. The only problem we encountered was keeping them from running the entire hike. After we got to the summit and ate we gave in and let them run all the way back. As we were WALKING back down the mountain we would ask folks we passed "Have you seen two boys run by?" Many people laughed and said "Yeah, they were flying". We spent the night in Luray, had a great meal and went to Luray Caverns the next day. A great time was had by all!
