And then there were 9.....

This is the newest addition to the Kellett clan!! The girls were promised a dog, by their father, in Ukraine. I put it off and put it off by saying: no fence, no dog. The girls NAGGED David to put up a fence....and he finally did. Then the excuse of, "we are going to KC for a weekend....a dog is something that needs to wait until after that". That was a month ago. We have since been in negotiations about the type of dog to get. True to my flakiness, I INSISTED it would NOT be a big dog....yet I was the one who mentioned the St Bernard. (I knew I wouldn't win on the Schnauzer...) I vetoed German Shepard, Lab, Golden, Pug, Chihuahua. So, we have settled on this gorgeous "little" pup and named her Zoie! She is 7.5 weeks old....and by the looks of her paws....she's going to be quite a big girl! Our cat, BC, seems okay with her so far. Our last pet attempt was a cat who lasted less than 24 hours. We realized fast that she could not live on top of the refrigerator...and BC was giving her no other options!

Oh, we also figured it would kill two birds with one stone....David also promised the girls a horse!!

The Curb...

One of the things I never really thought much about is curbing. I guess I just thought you can take the kids out of the orphanage AND the orpahanage out of the kids! But not really. So now, we are trying to curb some institutional behavior.

Sharing: Sharing is good...sharing EVERYTHING is not good.

Every man for himself: Well, it's hard for the girls to conceptualize that when you have a friend over or take a friend somewhere...you are somewhat responsible for entertaining them. Our girls seem to think once you introduce them around....they are on their own. From their history...that makes perfect sense to me. However, it leaves American girls a little confused, hurt, and offended.

Table manners: OK....I will be the first to admit that I am a stickler for table manners. No legs hiked up at the table. Cut your meat...don't stab a pork chop and gnaw at it. Wipe food off your face...preferably with a napkin. Chew with your mouth CLOSED. Don't talk with a cud in your mouth. And now that their English is good...speaking it at the table is a good thing!

Bad habits: gum stuck to the headboard...several pieces. Candy wrappers/sucker sticks on the carpet/beds/where ever. Handwashing underclothes.....enough on that topic.

So....there are the things I would like to kick to the curb! I only thought of big, obvious issues before we adopted this time...language, dating, makeup, driving, allowances, chores, etc....

(this is by no means a criticism of the girls, just an observation and things for p.a.p.s to consider when adopting older kiddos!! I'll take this stuff over potty training and diapers ANY day of the week..well, most days....)

Story of the Week...

Well...we had a pretty quiet week...for us, anyway!

Even our low-light for the week is funny. It started with a call from the assistant principal at Jakob's school (at least it wasn't THE principal!). The a.p. had to go to Jakob's classroom and retrieve him, as Jakob wouldn't go on his own to the a.p. office. Seems that Jakob threw his pencil (at the teacher or at the floor..depends on who you ask...) and was refusing to do work. He then disertated (if that's a word) about how he doesn't get enough respect (questioning if Rodney Dangerfield ever traveled to Eastern Ukraine in late 1998) from anyone. Jakob then spent about 45 minutes, disertating, in the a.p's office..about respect and other things that were not positive (no reason to live, no friends, etc). The a.p. had not seen this side of Jakob and was concerned so he called to see if we had seen these behaviors before. Um, yes...for about 5 years now. We have to find the humor, or all else is lost! This fell on the heels of Jakob giving David 10 days to show more respect or he was leaving home. The process was expedited due to the fact that the level of respect is not changing any time soon. I was unaware of the exchange...I thought Jakob was showering for bed! Imagine my surprise when Jakob comes thru with a suitcase wearing boxers, a hoodie, and sandals!! After some time on the porch in 40' weather, Jakob came in and proclaimed, "I've changed my mind, I'm staying, can I have a milkshake?"

I'll leave you to ponder whether Jakob got his milkshake....