The girls painted some beautiful pictures this weekend. When they dried I hung them on the wall in the kitchen. Since that time, anything Tess draws she sticks on the wall with little stickers. So funny.
Tess falls asleep in the car every afternoon when we pick up the kids from school. I took this picture while we were at a stop light. Two seconds later she was out cold. Couldn't you just kiss that sweet face!
Now, why in the world do my kids love their daddy so much? Probably because he does crazy-fun airplane flips to them! It hasn't taken Tess long to figure out how much fun it is to be turned upside-down and tossed around.
Tess has the tinest little 4-year-old body. When she came home three weeks ago she weighed 25.5 pounds. Now she weighs 28.5 pounds. In just three weeks!
Laughing hard and upside-down!
Audrey's turn. And, Tess? She's comin' back for more!
I have to follow up on the kids' "Tess show-and-tell day". She did great. For the most part Tess performed well for them. She sang "Jesus Love's Me" with the classes. And Blake, Will and Audrey did a lot of, "Tess, say..." Then they would give her some random Russian word to say. When she repeated them the class would laugh like it was the cutest thing! Sometimes she's like a little puppy dog doing tricks!
I took her to the "Infectious Disease International Adoption Doctor" that is at the Children's Hospital near us. Of course everything checked out great. They did some lab work called "titers" to check the levels of the immunizations they gave her in Russia. Sometimes in Russia they use expired or half-dose medicines that don't really do much. They're also checking to see about her iron level. The Russian doctor told us she was anemic. Of course this is the same doctor that "weighed" Tess by picking her up under her arms. He said in his deep Russian voice, "24 pounds. No less than 23. No more than 25". When we brought her home she weighed 25.5pounds. Oops - should I report him to the Russian authorities? Everything has to be so perfect on the US end. Yet, when it's coming from Russia they just make it up as they go along. Don't get me going on that hypocrisy! I'm sure all you adoptive moms could write a book on that stuff!
Tomorrow we're putting up our Christmas tree! What in the world will Tess think of all the lights? We can't wait!
For some reason - every fall my dad burns down the cat-tails that grow along the edge of their pond. There might be a real reason. But, personally, I think he just does it because the kids think it's cool!
Blake really got into the blow-torch thing!
Will's turn. Audrey did not want to try it. And my mom took Tess inside for the whole ordeal. With her personality, she'd probably want to try the torch, too!
First family picture! What a shot. I set the camera on the piano bench, clicked on the timer - and got this. I think seeing mommy running like a nut to get into my place before the blinking stops makes everyone smile. 
Things get better everyday with our little Tess. We had four great bedtimes, but last night she cried again. It's totally a different story now with the crying. She's crying, "Maaamaaa". Now what do you do with that? Of course you go in and snuggle. Time will work it out.
Sunday night was her first ever outing away from our house. After 16 days I was ready! We went to my nephews 2nd birthday party. She did really good considering all that was going on. There were lots of kids. She pretty much stayed the opposite place the kids were. If they were in the basement, she was upstairs with the adults. If the kids were upstairs, she was in the basement playing with all the toys. I just sort of hung back and watched her. We played together a little bit, but she really couldn't focus on just one thing. Her brain was going a mile and minute.
She freaked out twice. Once when it was time for dinner and everyone else was already in the kitchen ready to pray. I brought her up from the basement and when we came into a room of silent people who turned to look at us, she became a limp noodle, slid to the ground and started screaming. I took her into a different room and she settled down real quick.
The other time was even more sad. Rob went to out heat up the car. Blake and Will ran out into the cold with their boy cousins. I looked down and she was completely panicking trying to get her boots on. She was saying "shoe, zip, shoe, zip". She thought we were leaving her. Poor baby girl.
Today I am taking Tess to the kids school for "show and tell". They are all so excited. I asked them what they were expecting from Tess. They said they want her to talk in Russian and hug their teachers. Hummm, good luck with that. I'll report back on that one.
Here's the four best, sweetest, silliest, craziest, happiest kids in the world! And, I'm serious. I even checked in Russia. These are the best ones. ;)
This is the only decent picture I took for our Christmas Photo Shoot Take #1. None of them truly represented my kids' personalities. Like, take Will for example. That is not the face of Christmas joy. That is the face of strain because Mommy's said 15 times, "just a few more!" Christmas Photo Shoot Take #2 went better. Those are the pics I'm using for my Christmas cards. Tomorrow is Saturday. I'll try to take some better candid shots of the four of them. It is tough getting everyone within the view of the camera lens at the same time!
This is her hair before. Uneven and a little stringy.
The haircut
Is this cute or what?
This is a face Tess makes often. She does this when we don't understand her or she doesn't understand us. It always feel like the scene in Finding Nemo where Marlin is with the sea turtles. The tiny, darling baby turtle explains how to exit the Current. He has that happy, squeeky voice. But, Marlin says, "You're really cute, but I don't understand a word you're saying." Poor Tess.
