Daddy Asleep, Giovanni Asleep

"But Jesus knew their thoughts, so he brought a little child to his side.48 Then he said to them, "Anyone who welcomes a little child like this on my behalf* welcomes me, and anyone who welcomes me also welcomes my Father who sent me. Whoever is the least among you is the greatest." Luke 9:47-48

So, you know you are a parent when you actually lose your child and you feel like falling through the ground. I woke this morning after having a baby actually only wake twice. My husband ended up on the couch because we decided to try the baby in our bed. She moved around too much. Well, I went to check on the boys and Giovanni was missing. He wasn't under the bed, in the closet, on the top bunk, in the living room, downstairs, outside, he was NO WHERE! Finally, my hubby found him hidden between the cushions on the couch. I told him "You scared mommy!" All he said was "Daddy Asleep, Giovanni asleep!" and pointed to the couch. Phew, emergency resolved.

So, such is the life as a mother. I have really reflected over my life in the last 10 yrs and the differences between being single, a stepmom and a mother. When I was single I could come and go as I pleased, I could buy what I wanted, go on vacations whenever and wherever I wanted, I could eat what I wanted, work out everyday, go to the movies, buy a new cd, a new shirt, a new car!

Then, I met this wonderful guy and became a stepmom of teenagers. Not much really changed. I could still go to the movies, buy what I wanted (I just had to get them something too), go on mini-vacations, eat what I wanted, work out, just no new cars. Life was different but good. It had its ups and downs. I became a hockey mom and scheduling was around hockey games, tournaments, practices. Summers consisted of recovery from hockey season. I could still sleep in and stay up late.

Then, the decision to adopt little ones. Life has drastically changed. I never get to sleep in, unless you consider 7:30 sleeping in, no gym, no movie theaters (unless my mom is in town to babysit), I eat what they eat, puke (not just from baby), vacations take hours longer in packing and travelling. Please note, do NOT go on vacation without your husband! I have 3 little ones always there needing something. My life revolves around nap time, feeding times, bed times, and bath times. To leave to the store takes a 1/2 hour to get kids to go potty, change the baby, get bottles ready, extra clothes, seatbelts on, and water to drink. My final noticeable difference - I shop where there are kid friendly shopping carts. I must say, Safeway has the best so far. They are too expensive so I am trying to find a new place. The cart has two seats in the front that looks like cars so the boys can drive, a spot for the baby, and the thing drives with one hand very easily.

I love being a mother of 6. It has had its ups and downs in the last couple of months, but I wouldn't change any of it. Grant, who has been living with us during the summer, leaves today for the Air Force, so we are back to our family of 8. Nick, Giovanni, and Caleb are getting ready for school (yeah for mom!) and Kevin starts shortly after that. Malcom is thinking about going into the Air Force, too. We aren't sure how we feel about that right now. We met the kindergarten teach last week. The school and the boys are pretty excited. I think they will have fun.

Here are some pictures from the last week. There will be more to come soon. Hope you all are doing well. Thanks for following along!

Our new hats! OK, they are supposed to be arm floaties.

Yes, we like to make our sister look like us too!

Sophia loves ice cream!

First time on a trampoline. Only one injury - a bite to the lip.

She had fun getting in, just not staying!

We LOVE SavageLand pizza house!

That's our Caleb - always smiles.

A new pool (finally) and prayer

So we finally got the "big" pool up. It only took 3 or 4 tries and a huge water bill! The kids love it. Arm floaties just don't cut it so thankfully Fred Meyer's pulled through and still had kid life vests. They love going in the pool! The teenage boys like to run in circles and create whirlpools. I love summer. I am so glad and thankful I am able to have this first summer with the kids at home. What a blessing!







"Get 'em Caleb! Get 'em!"















"Oh yeah, we got 'em".













Even the "big" kids like the "little" kids pool.












Yesterday after the boys were done with the pool they, of course, rode the bicycles. It was funny to watch Gio flip his upside down and try to figure out how the bike works. I think he got it. Then they both had a bike car wash. They spent hours riding those bikes! Amazingly enough, out of the blue, I hear the song "I like to move it move it, I like to move it!" coming from their sweet mouths. They remembered it from Madagascar which we watched 3 weeks ago! Needless to say, I then heard it for a couple more hours.

















Please pray for our dog Brutus. He has surgery on Wednesday and we will find out next week if the lumps they removed is cancer or not. He is only about 6 yrs old, but that is old for a Great Dane. I attached his sad (but yet in a way, funny) picture of him after we brought him home. Last night he managed to rip the bandage off leaving little trails of blood. It was funny to watch my hubby try to "rebandage" him.








Poor guy. :(

Montana and Kid's Day

Well, we survived our first vacation to Montana. Note to new parents, never travel with just one parent no matter who else you bring. It is way to difficult with 2 little boys, 2 teenagers, and a baby. Next trip will be with George, too. We had a great time. We have "misplaced" our digital camera so a lot of our trip pictures are on that camera. We arrived in Bozeman after a 7 hour drive. Normally it takes about 6 hours. The kids were so excited to see Grandmom and meet Grandpa and Uncle Bob and Grandma Mabel. Overall the drive went well. A lot of potty stops, but oh well. The kids had fun playing with Molly and Cozie, but at bedtime they didn't understand where Dad was. Caleb had little tears wondering "Where's Daddy? Come on Mom, Daddy" as he dragged me to the door to go in the beep beep to get Daddy. I just kept telling him that Daddy was with Reeses, Brutus, Kev and Malcom (Thanks to Emily B. post about her son).

Saturday we went to a parade for the Sweet Pea festival. They had so much fun catching candy and looking at all of the floats.















That afternoon we went to the park for the festival and we did watercolors, face painting, dancing, ice cream bars, and rolling down the hill.








Here's Caleb sporting his new hat and glasses with the face painting of the Ethiopian flag. The hat is the Yankees and just like Uncle Bob's.










Sunday Mom threw me another Baby/Child shower. The boys got to open their first presents. It was pretty funny! They were a little over stimulated that day as they were completely spoiled.










Monday the Raskells headed to Yellowstone Park. About 1/2 hour into the drive the wind caught our luggage carrier and ripped it off the roof! It was airborne for quite some time. Pretty awesome sight. I called Mom to come get it since our luggage rack was now broken. After that delay we continued on. Amazingly enough, we barely saw any wildlife. We saw a wolf, buffalo, elk and bald eagle. Not too many for usual Yellowstone wildlife. It was a long day and the baby did great till we got home and she cried for hours.




This is the four boys - Caleb, Nick, Giovanni (with his new eagle mask), and friend Grant - in front of the upper falls of Yellowstone.










Tuesday I took the two little boys to the Museum of the Rockies. It was a lot of fun. We saw dinosaurs, wagons, toys, they rode a saddle, pumped water, and played in the discovery zone. Then we loaded up the car with all our luggage. It was a tight squeeze for all of us. With losing the luggage "bubble" we had to fit everything we could in the car. Mom is driving the bubble and the rest of our stuff out this weekend. Then we headed home. All boys were spastic the last half of the trip. It was pretty comical having them scream out whatever words we asked them to say.

Here is a lot of what they can say now:

Good Night, In the morning (this is "See you in the morning"), I love you, Reeses lay down, Reeses no, Come here, Where is it?, Clothes Off/On, bath, pool, this one, yes, no, water, bedroom, table, fork, outside, inside, bicylcle, Spokane, Washington, America, Sit down, Stand up, clock, beeb beep (car), nite-nite, Potty, Horsey, Getty-up (this includes the boys riding the arms of the sofa's like a horse, or our backs, or their blow up bats), they can answer "What is your name?", spanking, lotion, soap, wash hands, wash face, brush teeth, brush hair (yes, they like to brush my hair, but who is complaining?), dinosaur, thank you, your welcome, phone, and thanks to Nick their older brother - Nice Butt.

I find it adorable that when I taught them Spokane, Washington, America they thought I was saying Spanking. :) I also showed them that they are Ethiopian American's and Caleb said "NO, American!" as he tapped his chest.


Last Friday the kids and I and their Aunt Linda and cousins went downtown to feed the ducks, go on the carousel and slid down the slide. Then, last Saturday the 3 little kids and I went to the PBS kids day downtown with a friend of ours and her two kids. It was so much fun! We met Clifford, Curious George, got balloons, made necklaces, lots of stickers, had pizza (boys' favorite), rode the carousel, went down the giant slide, and tried to feed the ducks, but they were gone. Life was fun. I was amazed at how well the 2 boys got along with their new friend Nick. They held hands all day and the communication was never a problem.


















From Left to Right: Caleb, Nick, Gracie, and Giovanni. All having fun at Kid's day!














In line for the carousel!












Even Sophia had fun, especially with her new game of making noises!















Caleb and Gio got to sit on a police motorcycle and sit in the police car! This is Caleb turning on the lights.










Here is Gio in the Police car. "Hi Grandpa, just like you!"









This coming Saturday we get to take the kids to the annual shoe shopping with Grandpa R. This will be fun as they want everything all the time!

A day at the beach (and playground)

OK, so playground first. We went to the school and played on Monday. They had a blast. But then they got bored and wanted to go "water, mom, water" meaning swimming.

So obviously Giovanni has no fear. He climbed to the top and tried to stand!










"Hi Mom!" Caleb says.

















"I'm cool, aren't I?" Giovanni says.










So today I took the boys to Coeur d'Alene beach for the first time. They had so much fun! It was nice for me to get out with other friends and away from the house. It was a beautiful day and the water was so warm (for north Idaho, I guess). We are still doing well and each day brings new excitement. Sophia is really starting to do the worm crawl which is cool. Her and Caleb have ear infections, so hopefully this will help them sleep better when they get well. We head to Montana Friday to visit my family. Thank goodness Nick is going. George has to stay home to work. It will be fun to see my family and take them to Yellowstone. Of course I will post pictures when I get back!




Who wouldn't love to go here! It is so beautiful!













First time in the sand! They loved their toys.
















My friend had this boat that they DID NOT want to get out of! I think I will have to look for one soon!