And We're Off

Our dossier for our second adoption from Kazakhstan is DONE. We are sending it to our agency today via FedEx overnight. The agency will give it a once over, have it translated and then its off to its first stop at the Consulate of Kazakhstan in NY. Whew. Now, more waiting. In the mean time, we're busy, busy, with the little people.

The closing program for preschool was last Tuesday. Songs, props and "diplomas" were the highlights of the day. The school offers an extended session which Molly and Aidan will attend. It started today (AM instead of PM. Will need some time to get used to that schedule) and several of their friends are in the same class as well as some new kids. They were excited to be going and should have a good time.

Daddy was away on business all of last week. It was a good week but a long week. The kids really missed Daddy (as did I). We picked him up at the airport on Friday night and greeted him with a welcome home banner. It was a joyful reunion.

We kicked off BBQ season over Memorial Day weekend with a trifecta. On Saturday we went to friends who live in a farmhouse situated on a beautiful property featuring woods, a creek, kitty cats and lots of interesting caterpillars and bugs. Sunday was a neighborhood picnic and on Monday we headed to the in-laws for a family cook out. It was a great weekend but a few too many late nights for the kids. We took it easy on Tuesday and everyone seems to have recovered from their BBQ hangovers.

There has been quite a fascination lately with death and dying. Lots of questions about who dies and when will they die. We've told Molly and Aidan that yes everyone dies. We told them after you die you go to Heaven to be with God. We stressed that someone dies when they are really, really, really, old. Not the exact truth I know but we don't want Molly and Aidan to have worry about it. So....I stopped over our neighbor Darleen's house with Molly and Aidan. Darleen's 94 year old grandmother was there for a visit. As were getting ready to leave Aidan looks at grandma and says to me "Mom she looks really, really old. Is she going to die soon?". Luckily grandma was far away enough and hard of hearing enough not to hear the question.

Molly is gearing up for her big ballet/tap recital at the end of June. Good Lord I had no idea how involved and complicated a recital can be. Hair, makeup, dress rehearsals, mad stampede to purchase show tickets, grand finale extravaganzas. I was given a 12 page document outlining all of the details. Simply mind boggling. Next year we're signing up for soccer!

Livin' La Vida Loca

Well here it is the end of April and I'm just getting around to posting an update. Molly and Aidan are great and continue to grow at warp speed. Sometimes I look at them and just marvel at how big they are. It feels like only a short while ago I was able to carry both of my babies at the same time and now I'm struggling to carry one. They continue to be busy, busy, busy little people and are literally on the go from sun up to sun down.

Preschool has gone well this year and will be winding up at the end of May. Parent-teacher conferences were held several weeks ago and other than not being able to walk backwards on the balance beam both Molly and Aidan are doing great. Molly has blossomed tremendously. She is extremely social and the queen of crafting. She has not had any trouble keeping up with the other kids despite being one of the youngest in the class. All of the children in their class except one will be headed to kindergarten next year. Molly and Aidan will stay at their current school for Pre-K as they miss ourschool district's cut-off by three and four weeks. Its wonderful to listen to Molly explain the amazing discoveries she makes each day. Aidan has enjoyed school as well but has had some difficulties with an environment that has more structure than he is accustomed to (or cares for). He can get easily frustrated when unable do something perfectly on the first try (like zipping his coat). We're working with him on these things and hopefully encouragement and time will help. Aidan is academically and intellectually off the charts (this is a topic for a separate post) and the challenge will be to keep him interested in the curriculum and manage his expectations of himself. Both Molly and Aidan love playing with their friends and we frequently get together with many of them outside of school. Overall, preschool has been a positive and enriching experience for both.

What else is going on....Molly started ballet and tap dancing lessons in January. She loves it and will be dancing in her first recital in June....Molly and Aidan are taking swimming lessons. They've gone a few times and are doing well. They're gaining confidence with each class which is good but makes mom nervous....Molly, Aidan and I flew to Florida in February to attend my Dad's 80th birthday celebration. My whole family was there and we had a great time. We didn't go to any of the Disney theme parks (Pat wasn't there and we think its too much for 4 year olds) but we did spend a day at Downtown Disney. Molly and Aidan had a blast. I would have planned a longer stay had I know how well Molly and Aidan would travel. Next time......The weather has been warm and we've been enjoying the great outdoors- riding bikes, digging in the dirt and going to the park. It's a nice and much needed change of scenery after the winter.

And finally, we've been working on our dossier for our second adoption from Kazakhstan. Our home study was completed in December but our agency wanted us to wait until April to start our dossier. It was hard to wait but now hopefully our paperwork won't get too dated before we travel. The plan is to work on the dossier in April/May, send it to our agency in June for translation and submit it to the Consulate in July. From there who knows. Our agency said we would not travel before the end of this year. I'm hoping for travel the beginning of 2010 but ya never know. The documents required this time around are similar to those we prepared for Molly and Aidan's adoption with several additions including an evaluation by a psychologist, more finger prints to be cleared by the FBI, and copies of professionals licences (home study agency, social worker, physician and psychologist) and a verification of licences from the appropriate licensing boards. All in all there are 30 documents required. We will be compiling two original dossiers so that is 60 total documents (all to be notarized and apostilled). The good news it that we're making excellent progress and a significant part of the work is complete.

Pat and I are also doing well. Work continues to be challenging for Pat but we are relieved that there is still a job to go to. Like so many others, Pat's company has been through lay offs and restructuring. We're keeping our fingers crossed and hoping for the best. I blessed with the opportunity to stay at home with our beloved children and I'm truly thankful for that. I'm also training for a ten mile run that takes place this Sunday. Wish me luck because I'm going to need it!!

Year in Review 2008

Yikes! I was shocked to see that I only posted 4 times in 2008. I knew time was flying but that is just crazy. Below is the letter Pat wrote and we sent with our christmas card. Also included are a few recent photos. I hope I will do a better job of blogging in 2009.

Family and Friends,

What a year we have had! Home improvement and family matters dominated the landscape in 2008. Through all and throughout, Molly and Aidan, our reason for every season, continued to grow and to learn about themselves and the world around them: probing, pushing, testing, and bringing Mom and Dad equal measures of surprise, bedevilment and delight. Some blessings from this year nearly passed:

We had our home built six years ago and never thought four bedrooms, 3.5 baths and 3500 square feet of living space might one day be too small. Who knew we’d have two toddlers one day, much less how much stuff they can accumulate and how much room they need? So we began 2008 by having a substantial portion of our basement finished for living space, most of which is “Kidland” for now. The kids love the space, with room for play and crafts, Aidan’s trains and Molly’s kitchen, and Mom enjoys having some place the kids can be other than underfoot at every minute.

This summer was a wonderful collection of family get-togethers and celebrations. First, we spent the July 4th Weekend at Lake Canandaigua with the extended Reed and Reed-Hudson families. We stayed in a little B&B with Aunt Barbara and Uncle Charlie. The weather was good, the company and fireworks were great.

August began with cousin Sara Dwyer’s wedding on the first. Nearly one hundred family and friends from across the continent celebrated Mom and Dad Donohoe’s 50th wedding anniversary on the 10th: Laughs and tears flowed freely and a tableau of memories and recollections formed a fitting tribute to exceptional love and commitment. The family made the trek to Schnecksville on the 23rd for Dad Donohoe’s 75th birthday party. Finally, we spent Labor Day weekend with our Canadian family, the Petrachenko clan.

Molly and Aidan started pre-school in September! So far, so good: They love it. Coincidentally, we began the process of adopting a third child in September too. We are working with a new agency but plan to return to Kazakhstan and to Baby Home Delfin in Kostanai, from where we adopted Molly and Aidan. Molly would like a baby sister, Aidan a baby brother. In a moment of four-year old wisdom, Aidan suggested one of each, to be named – naturally – Molly and Aidan.

The kids turned 4 in October. We spent Thanksgiving with Barb and Charlie in Virginia and made a train trip into DC for “Black Friday” at the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History.

Molly is a study of emotion in bold relief. She’s sweet and kind and affectionate; she’s loud and boisterous and full of life, with a great sense of humor and a genuine, infectious laugh. She loves arts and crafts, particularly anything to do with glue and/or tape. Her new passions are dance and frequent costume changes and she aspires to a career as a princess or fairy.

Aidan is bright and creative, imaginative and outgoing. He is curious and observant: He wants to know how things work and why things are done. His new favorite word is actually, which is followed typically by a frighteningly accurate recounting of the earlier how’s and why’s. He continues to provide hilarious and engaging commentary on the events of his life whether or not anyone’s listening.

So here we are: Christmastime has come again. We wish you and yours a Merry Christmas and the happiest of new years. May God continue to bless us one and all.

With love,

Pat, Alli, Molly and Aidan

Update Coming Soon

I want to post. I really, really do. Until then here are a few recent photos.

Aidan's Artwork

Aidan is really branching out with his drawing. For a while it was trains, trains and not much else but trains. Here are a few of his latest works with some commentary from mom.



Rocket ships and bunny



Aidan waiting for an apple to fall from an apple tree into his bucket. Black clouds threaten.



Variation on a theme



Map to undisclosed location (signed by the artist)



Green house in watercolor



Happy family in our house. Pictured from left to right...Mo, Pop Pop, Mommy, Aidan, Molly and Daddy (we're holding hands).

A Bee, a Bee, a Bee

Molly is a lover of the outdoors. She picks flowers all day long. She loves digging in the dirt and mud. She picks up worms and ants. Any bug really that crawls inspires interest. But add some wings to said bug and the girl loses her mind. Anything that flies by prompts a shout of "abeeabeeabee!!!!!!!!!!!" (all one word). We remain calm and assure her that bees don't like little girls just flowers. This works until the next close encounter.

Last night we were awakened by Molly's screaming. Unusual as she hasn't woken up in the middle of the night for quite some time now. Daddy went to her room to investigate. Molly was convinced there were bees in her room. Big fat buzzing bumble bees everywhere. Poor girl. She really was frightened. Daddy did his best to calm her down and reassure her that there weren't any bees in her room (the wind was howling and rattling the window a bit making it "buzz") but after two trips back she still wasn't convinced. Mommy's turn as Daddy needed to get up for work the next day. The third time seemed to be the charm. I held her and stroked her hair until she was calm, put her back in bed (after a thorough bee inspection) and she drifted off the sleep. The whole ordeal lasted more than an hour. She seem none the worse for wear this morning but did wake up crying that there was a bee in her room. I'm sure this is just the beginning of the "somethings in my room" stage. We're actually surprised it didn't start sooner and we were expecting monsters not bees. Ya just never know.

My niece Danielle rows for Stetson University (FL). Her 4 person boat took the gold at the regionals and qualified to compete in the Dad Vail Regatta in Philadelphia which was held this past weekend. They won their heat on Friday so we got a chance to see her row on Saturday. Unfortunately, they placed third in their heat and did not make the finals. We did get a chance to spend time with Danielle her sister Nicole and my bother Grant and SIL Sue. We had a terrific visit which included cheese steaks at Pat's in South Philly. We'll see them again in July at the lake house.

More To Come

It's been a long absence and I do intend to post a proper update but until then I thought I'd at least put up a few pictures.....