Eet ees feeneeshed

I think that French people love to say "Eet ees feeneeshed" to Americans. Translation-it is finished. There was a terrible accident on the periphique on our way to the airport. A trip that should have taken a half an hour took 2 hours. We got to the airport at 10:30 for our 11:30 flight and we told that it was finished. So.....I got on a flight to Philadelphia, spent 5 hours in Philadelphia and finally got home around midnight. Poor Bev was put on a flight to Newark, then a flight to Cincinnati, spent the night there and finally flew home to Chicago this morning. Whew!

Don't get me wrong. I like French people. In fact, I love all things French.

Sorry I did not take my camera to France so no photos. The trip was so hectic and it would have been just too much to keep up with my camera. And, unfortunately, there is so much purse snatching in Paris, it would be hard to carry around my camera and keep up with my purse. Our dear concierge had her purse stolen in front of our hotel while we were there. The hotel is on a very quiet street in a nice area.

But for wonderful photos of Paris my favorite blog is Paris Daily Photo.

Oh, la, la

I'm off to Paris on a buying trip. I hope to find some antiques for the store, some clothes for K and a few things for me. This picture was taken 3 years ago on a trip to Paris with my nephews, Richard and Harrison. They look so young in this picture!

Our Trip to Chicago

K and I had a wonderful weekend in Chicago. The weather was perfect and we had so much fun seeing our cousins. My cousin Kathy is one month younger than I am. K just loves her son, John, who is 13. He is so sweet and patient with K. We all had a great time at the aquarium. We also had a fun time at Kazapalooza-it was so wonderful to see all of the cute kids from Kazakhstan.

K loved the hotel because they brought her this tray of snacks when we checked in. I thought the little demi-tasse cup of jello was so cute.

K and Katherine


K and John-she was trying to get him to wrestle


K and Kathy

Kathy and John were pretty tired after running around Chicago all day

K at the planetarium

Off to Chicago

K and I are off to Chicago for the weekend. We are going to visit some cousins and attend an event that promises to be a lot of fun called Kazapalooza. A group of moms with children adopted from Kazakhstan have organized a weekend of fun activities. We look forward to seeing old friends and meeting new friends.

Sweet Charlotte

Today I drove up to the north Georgia mountains to pick Charlotte up from camp because her mother is in Italy and will not be home until tomorrow. Charlotte holds a very special place in my heart. The night that K's mother died (K was only 3 1/2) she was taken to a place called the Svern. Charlotte was there at time and remembers when K arrived. They were both later transferred to the same children's home. Charlotte was adopted by a family in Atlanta a few months after I adopted K. K and Charlotte have such a wonderful bond and I am always reduced to tears thinking that K has known Charlotte longer than anyone else who is in her life. They are so sweet together and I hope they always remain friends.

My New Favorite Thing!

Pure Digital Flip Video Camera

I read about this little video camera on one of the Yahoo adoption groups that I am on. The poster talked about how easy it is to use and how she used it when she was in Russia to send videos to her international adoption doctor back in the US. I loved the concept but thought that I would never be able to figure it out. I am pretty technically challenged. Well.....now I am a believer! This little camera is so easy to use. It has a USB connector that flips out of the side that connects directly to your PC. It has great software that is soooo easy to use. And it is smaller than a cell phone. The bug loves it because she constantly has me making videos of her that she wants to send to Americas Funniest Videos (thank you Uncle Mark for introducing her to that piece of American culture).

The Bug and the Boys

It is still too hot here to do anything but swim.  So we invited a couple of the boys who were in K's kindergarten class over to swim.  And they both brought their little brothers.  I tried and tried but could not get a picture of all 5 kids together! K and Trevor are going to be in the same second grade class next year.

Max

Leo

Leo K and Max

K and Trevor

K and Lachlan

Lachlan K and Trevor

My Little Bookworm

K just loves to read. Thank you, thank you, thank you to Lindamood Bell! The downside of her loving to read is that she never wants me to read to her any more. I really miss it. She always thanks me for asking but says she would rather read to herself.

K is going to a writing skills camp for the next couple of weeks at the Speech School. She came out today with a big grin and a thumbs up. She is going to have a language evaluation this week to get a baseline of her language development. She is also going to start language therapy and Fast Forward, a program that develops brain processing efficiency through intensive adaptive exercises.

I truely believe that I cannot take a wait and see approach with K and I must do as much intervention as possible. One of the best books that I have read that discusses this is Adoption Parenting, Creating a Toolbox, Building Connections, by Jean MacLeod and Sheena Macrae.

We will still have plenty of time for fun this summer. And, yes, K wears her bow until just before she goes to sleep.

Who Are The Best Godparents in the World?

...why Sheila and Elliott, of course! K and I decided that if we can't be in France the next best thing would be cooking a French dinner and having Sheila and Elliott over. So we made some French vanilla ice cream using Hediard vanilla. And I tried a couple of yummy French receipes from the March issue of Gourmet.

The evening started with some diving tips from Sheila.

Some after dinner dancing with Elliott

K just loves Sheila and Elliott!!

I'm a Chiwawa

Last weekend K and I went to see Narnia.  I think her favorite thing about the movie was a trailer for a movie coming out this fall about a chiwawa in Beverly Hills.  She has been singing this song ever since.

Summer Fun

K jumped in the pool about 300 times yesterday evening. She wanted me to get the perfect shot of her jumping. Needless to say she slept well last night.

And it isn't even summer yet!

It was 94 degress here today but that did not stop K from riding. She rode in the covered ring but it was still so hot. We jumped in the pool the minute we got home, played a game of Junior Scrabble by the pool and then went to our favorite Mexican restaurant (K calls it the cheese place). I love summer!