pics from Pop's 65th birthday in the mountains!

Well if anyone is still reading- we are back in business thanks to Melissa! So much to update on since the last blog! On October 4th Ladi Elizabeth was baptised in the little chapel that I grew up in and the boys were baptized in and by the same minister (David also married Steven and me and he and his family are dear friends to our family). It was a very simple and sweet ceremony. We had our Sunday school friends and other close friends and family attending with a celebration dinner that followed at our home. Ladi of course had no clue what was going on (just like any other infant baptism) but I know she will remember that day and the boys will too- so we all will have sweet memories to help remind her of how much she is loved. Then that Tuesday after the baptism Ladi fell and broke her arm. I was taking Bryson to swimming and Steven called to tell me I needed to come straight home because we might need to go to the ER. Of course I flew home and once I saw it I knew it was broken. She and Brady were playing in the backyard and she fell on her elbow the wrong way. Well, luckily one of Steven's golf friends and a church friend is an orthopedic surgeon. Bill came to the ER and took a look at the x-rays and told us he could squeeze her surgery in the very next morning! Yes I was a complete wreck- but Ladi Elizabeth was the most brave little girl I have ever seen! She only cried a little and was so patient and "chatty" with all the doctors and nurses. Especially after they gave her some pain meds! And of course we had to explain to all of them that she had only been with us for 5 months- so they were all interested in her story and just fell in love with her! Surgery went perfect and after a purple cast and then a light blue cast (to match her Cinderella Halloween costume) and 4 weeks- last Monday they took out the pins and she is cast free. Although she has to wear a splint when she is at school or playing. Bill said he expects her to recover just fine! Thank God we knew someone and it was nice that he was a man of Faith and was able to pray with us before the surgery and "hold" our hands during it all! And Ladi loves "her Dr. Sutton"!

So now that we are past that- it has been 9 weeks since the children started school. Ladi is doing so well. Her teacher is still amazed at how quickly she is learning to do things- like write her name, pretending to read books, learn songs, her numbers and the alphabet. She has come so far so fast! Oh and as you can see in the pics we cut her hair! She wanted it cut and with the cast on it was impossible to wash it! But she can still wear a bow and she does just about everyday! Brady, Bryson and Blake did very well with grades this nine weeks. We have a tradition of going to Krispy Kreme doughnuts the day report cards come home. (FYI-KK gives a free doughnut for every A) So tonight we went and got a dozen and a half hot glazed doughnuts! Bryson had his first BIG swim meet this past Sat. in Raleigh. The entire "fam" made the day trip to support and cheer him on. He was great! He loves everything about the sport! And we enjoy watching him! Brady auditioned for a local children's theater play last weekend. The play was "Annie" so they didn't need a 6 yr. old little boy but he had a great time just auditioning! He really wants to do it again in January when the next audition is held. Steven took him to the audition and had to wait outside for 2 1/2 hrs with the other parents (he wins father of the month!) Steven was so sure Brady would get a "call-back" and when he didn't Steven said "They don't know what they are missing out on!". I told him he sounded like a "pageant mom"!

And Blake made the middle school basketball team. He even thinks he may start this year- this is his sport- along with golf! So we will be going to games starting next week! Go cougars!

I guess that about gets us up to date! This past weekend we had a first anniversary of the day we received the phone call about Ladi Elizabeth! It is hard to believe it has been a whole year! I will never forget where I was and how I felt so excited to get "the call". I had to pull the car of the road so I could concentrate and not wreck! Although on that first phone call we only got her name, age and where she lived- I knew she was our daughter. There was a lot of "back and forth" between our agent and Steven that night. I was on a girl's trip to NY city! So Steven had to "field" the calls to Elena. I remember telling Steven to just pray about what Elena had said and let all of it weigh in his heart for that weekend. It wasn't until a week later that we received her picture and we both knew we were looking at our little girl! There of course is so much more to this story and it is her story and our story and I look forward to sharing it with Ladi Elizabeth one day when she is old enough to understand it all!

As you can see the blog is under construction- and I hate
computers!!!! Steven's secretary is going to have to help
me (Melissa Help!!!) This is like scrapbooking and I do
not even do that! So I will get this straightened out and
give an update soon!!!

Rain Rain Go Away!

Well as most of you know

by now we are expecting a storm!

They cancelled school for today

and the rain and wind have begun-

in my house that is! We are stocked

up on all the necessities-

15 rented movies, lots of junk food,

made comfort food last night,

lots and lots of diet coke

and ginger ale, magazines,

playing cards, a good bottle of wine,

oh and the batteries and bottled

water of course! The boys have been tracking the

storm (Hanna) on the computer

so I get the latest, up to the minute coordinates!

We are prepared to evacuate if

need be (i.e. no electricity for more than one night

with 4 kids in the house!)

All kidding aside we know this is not going to be

the storm to worry about-

unfortunately there are two more hurricanes

stirring in the Atlantic. We

will have to keep an eye on them- but for now

we are going to count our

blessings with this storm and at least enjoy

the break it has given us and

have us a good ole' fashion Hurricane Party!

Ladi Elizabeth's First Day of Preschool!

Today was a BIG day for Ladi Elizabeth. This is a picture of her teacher, Mrs. Long and her friend Kameryn. Phe Phe took her to school this morning since it was the first day and I needed to get to my classroom earlier (fyi my classroom is just down the hall from Ladi's so I was able to peek in on her and saw her playing on the playground outside!) Mom said Ladi went right into her classroom and started her morning activities. I knew she wouldn't have any problems going into the classroom because she has been playing in there some while we had teacher workdays. She had also gotten to know her teachers during this time as well! I was curious to see how she would do at the end of the day when she saw me. I had definitely missed her and I was wondering how her day had gone. She was very excited to see me and she kissed me and said "Mommy I missed you!" (Of course I melted!) And on the car ride home she told me how she "kisses her brain" (Mrs. Long had to explain that one) and she sang the song they sang in her classroom in its entirety- "Good Morning, Good Morning, Good Morning to you!" Ladi Elizabeth is very lucky that some of the girls in her class are also in her Sunday school class and they like to play dress-up together! Tomorrow I will be able to drop her off at school since I will not be teaching; so I will be interested to see how she does. But if it is like any thing else she does I am sure she will be fine! I keep thinking what the ladies at the orphanage are going to think when they see how well she is adjusting and so fast! I know in my heart that it is partly because of the love and kindness shown by them while Ladi Elizabeth was there.

Back to school!

Today was the first day back to school for the Leger boys- Blake is in 8th grade, Bryson is in the 4th grade and Brady is in 1st grade. It is a day filled with mixed emotions- sad summer is over- back to homework and schedules- but we are excited to get back to see all of our buddies and new teachers and for Brady and Bryson a brand new school! Well in appearances anyway; their school went through major renovations and was closed all last year. We were very fortunate that the entire school stayed together and just met in a different location. The new school is beautiful and the entire neighborhood is so proud of it! I asked them what their favorite part of the day was and Brady said "lunch time". I felt so proud because I had carefully packed a nutritious and yummy lunch, making sure he had the major food groups covered plus a healthy snack. I did good! I went to the grocery store yesterday specifically for that reason! It was even packed the night before! I asked Brady how he liked what I had packed for him and he just smiled real big and said, "Oh Mom I didn't eat what you packed for me I ate something better; I had chicken nuggets and potato chips from the lunch line!". That is Brady for you- marches to the beat of his own drum! Then there is Bryson who supervises what you pack in his lunch box and even if he was starving to death would not eat in the cafeteria at school! Bryson's favorite part of the day was P.E. The school has never had a multipurpose room before so with the addition the children now have a space to have P.E. inside when it is raining outside. Bryson said the room is the "coolest" with lots of things to play with! Blake's first day was also great; although Blake's schedule will be a little different this year. He will be attending New Hanover High School for one of his classes. Pardon me for bragging on my child but he deserves it- Blake took the SAT this past spring part of the Duke University Talent Identification Program and he scored very well. He also scored very high on his EOG tests this year so he was recommended to do a dual enrollment with the high school. He took Algebra last year and is taking Geometry this year so foreign language was all that is available to him this year so he will be taking Spanish 1 this semester and Latin 1 next semester. We drop him off at the high school for the first time tomorrow morning; so please pray for him and me! Well some of you know that I am also back to school- well with two year olds anyway! I decided to go back to work part time as the two year old teacher on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. I will be teaching at First Baptist Preschool (which happens to be our church and it happens to be where Ladi Elizabeth will be attending preschool 5 days a week!) I am very excited about going back to work- I haven't worked since Brady was born. But working at the preschool still allows me to have some time to myself and volunteer work and be available for the children when they get home from school. And as for Ms. Ladi Elizabeth, well she doesn't start preschool until next week so she is spending this week with her Phe Phe. Mom took her shopping today (Ladi's favorite sport) and tomorrow morning they are off to the farmer's market. It means a lot to Mom to be able to spend time with Ladi Elizabeth by herself. Also on a bitter sweet note Ladi Elizabeth is not speaking any Russian at all. Only English- except for Momma Cheecka- which we found out in Russian that is a kind, loving and gentle way of saying Momma. Ladi Elizabeth really seems to just want to be like the other kids. She has adjusted so well! But I will write on that next week; after her first day at school! (Ok so maybe I should read what I have written in the previous blog- I have repeated myself- please forgive me? My only excuse is that I have 4 kids ;)

Lazy, Hazy, Crazy Days of Summer!

(Pics from the last swim meet- Brady and Bryson won their heats and Ladi with her "buddy" Savannah!)

Ok I admit it we have been lazy about blogging the past 2 weeks! Sorry- but there are no excuses- we are just having fun and enjoying the rest of our summer! Ladi has really started to use her "English" more in the past 2 weeks. She and I rarely have a time that we don't understand each other. (Although I still have to interpret for others.) I couldn't say exactly how many phrases she knows - but lets just say enough to start telling the boys what to do! Her interactions with them is just amazing to me. She loves to play outside with them running around the yard, jumping on the trampoline, hiding out in the tree fort- being a real "tom boy". And then she comes in with dirt and sweat all over her and insists on taking a bath. She then must put on one of her now many princess night gowns and fix her hair just right. So just that fast she goes from ruff and tuff with the boys to playing princess! OH and her new favorite thing to play is dress-up! I gave her some empty make-up containers and brushes and we bought some pink sponge rollers. She loves for me to come sit at her table in her room and she fixes me up like "Cinderella"! She is so serious when she puts my hair up in bows and then she puts her sparkle lip gloss on me- then she looks at me and says "Beautiful"! And the way she says that word is just precious! (sorry for being so sappy but it is true you just have to hear her!) Another first for Ladi- Last week Phe took her and Brady to Chuckie Cheese! (Phe deserves a medal for this!) They had a blast - Mom said Ladi acted like she knew just what to do- but Brady had fun showing her all around! (this is Brady's favorite hang out!) They had their picture taken and played all the games and rode the rides and yes they got prizes in the end! Of course Ladi picked out plastic jewelry! (Oh just so there are no mistakes when we go to "Chuck Cheeses" we DO NOT eat there- we just go to play the games- then we go eat some place where the food does not taste like plastic!) Anyway- yesterday we had our first visit from our social worker Katrina. This visit is for our 6 month post placement report. The visit went very well and I was so excited for Katrina to meet Ladi. It was a year ago this month that we had our first home visit with her for our home study. Steven and I really like Katrina- she is very kind and understanding and she has worked with many of our friends that have adopted from Russia. She said that Ladi seemed to be adjusting well and she offered us some tips and advice for the future. She will be coming for another visit next month after Ladi has started preschool. Speaking of that- I meet her teacher last week. Oh my- she is soooo nice and very excited to have Ladi in her class. She has taught in New Hanover county public schools for over 20 years as a pre-K teacher so she comes with so much knowledge! And she has taught ESL (English as a Second Language) kids before- although not any from Russia- but still the same concepts! Ladi will be going everyday from 9:00am-12:00. This will be a BIG adjustment for her. She is used to being with me all the time! So we are going to have to practice leaving her - like at Sunday school or at mom and dad's house for a couple of hours. I have left her with mom before but she was at our house and the brothers were with her. I am just praying that Ladi will adjust quickly and learn to love her school time. I will be teaching at the preschool three days a week in the 2 year old room so I will be close by. I am excited about this new adventure for me as well! I haven't worked since Brady was born and I haven't taught preschool since Bryson was born! I have some "homework" to do! But I am looking forward to working with some talented women and having some "me" time on the two days I am off and the kids are in school! Lets see- I think that is all the news for now- oh Steven and Blake were in a golf tournament on Sunday. There first one together and Blake will be in the Junior Club Tournament next week. AS you all know they love to play golf and Blake has been trying to play everyday- even in this heat! The rest of us are just trying to stay cool hanging out at the beach or in the pool!