Halloween 2009

"Miss Alpine 1994"

"Somalian Pirate"

"GI Joe"

The end results...

Jake's attempt at carving a pumpkin.

Emily giving Israel a hand with the slimy stuff.

Disneyland 2009

At the end of a very long day they still had enough energy to make the silly faces for the camera!

My three beautiful Ethiopian boys!


Alemu's favorite ride. Matterhorn!

Snack time.

This is the only ride that we went on twice. They loved driving their own cars.

Israel was a crazy driver. I laughed the entire ride. He just could not stay on course.

Mr. Toad's Wild Ride

Imagine? Being 12 yrs. old and NEVER had been on a merry-go-round.

We had a fun day all in all. The boys had a hard time with the concept that they had to wait in lines. Go figure.

Alemu's 12th Birthday

Who would have thought... that for his first birthday... in the middle of October... we would be having a pool themed party?! He used all his birthday money for the very exciting Wii system.

Foul Ball

Last night Brian took Alex, Josh, Alemu and Israel to the Padres Game. One of our favorite players Adrian Gonzalez hit a foul ball in their section and the man who caught the ball gave it to Alemu. As you can see on his face this was really cool. Thanks Brian!

So what do you do with your donations while waiting to send them???

An 18 year old boy...a punching bag!

Water by the gallon!

It was the day before Emily was to leave to go back to Ethiopia. We had a few stores to go to and Israel kept asking me for things. At the drugstore where we got Emily's pictures printed I let them pick out a candy. When we got in the car Israel wanted water. Of course the warm bottle that I had in the car wasn't good enough. Now we are at the grocery store and he is still bugging me for water. We were walking by the outside water dispenser and I said jokingly that I was going to stick his head in there and give him some water. Emily piped up and said that she would pay the quarter to watch. So...being a person to never back down to a challenge in goes their heads. They each got an entire gallon of water to themselves.

Look Who's One!

Family Picture July 2009

Long Overdo!!!

I know that it has been way too long since I posted a blog. Life has been extremely busy. You know I am a mother of 7!!! My sister actually threatened that she was going to stop checking my blog because it has been so long. Well...Cindy, here we go.


The last two months have been great. Emily has been home from Africa and it has been the only time that all 7 of my children have been together. I was excited for her to get home and see the "little boys" interact with the family. You see she had them for 3 months in Ethiopia preparing them for their new family and what life would be like in America. She would be the best judge of "how they are doing". I worry about that...alot. I find myself asking them "are you happy?" Of course they always say "yes". I just am waiting for the homesickness to settle in. This all has to be so confusing for them. As their language improves the conversations deepen. Emily leaves tomorrow and I am not sure how they will react to that. I know that they don't want to go back to Ethiopia so why would she?


Last night, Brian stopped at an Ethiopian restaurant and got take-out. The "little boys" loved the injera. They haven't had any for 5 months. I can't believe that 5 months have gone by so fast. And yet, it feels like so much longer at other times. Israel (7 yrs.) is improving everyday with his behavior. He is very curious and touches everything. The over-reacting has really deminshed. Alemu (11 yrs.) is opening up more and more about his life prior to being with us. Chuck and I both love to hear him talk about his past. Last week I told Alemu that I was going to sunbath until I was dark like him. He laughed and told me that I couldn't get that dark. I then asked him if he could love me even though my skin was white and he said "yes". It was a sweet moment between us.


Last Thursday, was re-adoption day!!!! Whoo Hoo. The "little boys" didn't want to stop swimming and get all dressed up. Go figure. But...they did and we all met at the court house and had a small intimate gathering with the judge. It was a very special time for our family.


Jake graduated from high-school last month. 4 down and 3 to go. He plans on attending the community college and then transfering to a 4 yr. college. Thank you to all the family and friends who took the time to share in this special day with Jake.


Alex turned 16 a couple of weeks ago. He is working on his drivers license. Way to go Alex!


Alemu is preparing for middle school. What a culture shock that is going to be. He is getting excited about the whole school shopping thing. He desperately wants to go to the "Disney Channel" which means Disneyland. Maybe we can make it up there this fall.


Israel read his first sentence in english with Autumn. He was so excited that they called me at work and told me all about it and then read it to me when I got home. He was beaming from ear to ear.



Emily gave a presentation about her ministry at church. She did a great job and really shared her heart and passion for the Ethiopian people. I am so proud of her and will miss her terribly. Please pray for her as you think of her.



Chuckie is heading to Roseburg, Oregon next Monday. He is going to live with his grandparents and attend the community college. I think the change will be good for him and I know that his Mum-Mum will fatten him up a little with her good cooking.



Autumn & Brian and Elias are all doing well. They are very natural at parenting. Elias is absolutely perfect! I love him so much and love being his Mimi. He is walking really good. Hasn't been able to get up without crawling over to something nor can he walk without his hands above his head. It is the cutest thing.



I have been sewing (quilting) like crazy. I wanted to send two ladies (nannies) that I had met while in Ethiopia and one little girl a quilt back with Emily. Well...she then asked if I could make two more for the two new nannies. I gave in and said yes. So....I am on #5 right now. Have I mentioned that she is leaving tomorrow? So, I will be sewing all night.



I have photos for all the things that we have been doing the last couple of months but because I haven't downloaded my pics that is why I havem't been updating my blog. So last night I decided that I will just write the post and then at a later date add the photos.

I am excited to post our new "Family Photo" that was taken last night. I will try to do that tomorrow. The photographer earned her money last night trying to get 11 people all looking at her at the same time. I really sensed that it was important to the "little boys" to be in a family photo displayed in the house. I think it is another small way to show them that they are stuck with us for the rest of their lives! They were trying to tell me where in the house we should hang it. Of course it was smack in the middle of everything.

This will now get me current and I will try to post more frequently. ;)



Ann

HAPPY BIRTHDAY AUTUMN!

My "Little Girl" is 25 today!

Where has 25 years gone? I remember it like it was yesterday. She was so fun as a child. One of my favorite memories is her opening our pantry in the kitchen and stacking the soup cans as high as she could reach and then climbing onto the shelf that she had just emptyed. I thought for sure that she was going to drop one of those cans on her toes but she never did. This was a daily routine for a long time. Oh...and when she learned to ride a two-wheel bike. The neighbors actually came outside to watch because she was so stinkin small. She was only 4 yrs. old and was zipping along with the big kids. I am sitting here wishing for those times back but yet so EXCITED for the time we are in right now. She has grown into a beautiful woman inside and out and I am so proud to be her Mother. It is such a blessing to have your grown children in your everyday lives. And, don't get me started about how awesome of a mother that she is and how much fun being a grandmother is. I love life!

Updates

Jake's Senior Prom

Jake & Rachel

Smores!

Multi-Tasking!


Look who got "Most Improved" at school!




Enjoying his first Mac-n-Cheese with Mimi!



So the other day Chuck had the little boys at the church after school and they were playing baseball. The ball rolled down the embankment of ivy and they searched for 10 minutes and couldn't find the ball. All of a sudden Alemu said "Dad, this is what we do in Kamashi when we can't find something that we are looking for". He proceeded to put a small pile of spit on the palm of him hand and then with the other hand slapped the pile of spit and the direction that the spit flew is the direction of the object that you are looking for. Chuck said that within 10 seconds Alemu found the ball. Bizzare! The boys said that it works everytime. Try it next time you can't find your keys and let me know if it works for you?

John Brown

So my husband Chuck always picks on the children in our lives. Whether it is the kids at church or school or in the family, he picks on them. So needless to say Alemu and Israel are no exception. Chuck recently has been asking Alemu what his name is. He is trying to get him used to our last name. Well last week Alemu turned the table on Chuck and said "what you name?" Chuck then replied: "John Brown, if you ask me again I'll knock you down." This of course caused everyone to laugh. The next night Chuck asked Alemu "What's your name?" Alemu replied: "John Brown, ask again, I beat you up!". We all busted up laughting.

Well...the gorilla struck again! This past weekend our dear friends from South Carolina were in town. Michelle brought with her 4 of her 8 children. Alemu and Israel were so excited to play gorilla, and played they did. They got so into the role they should have won an Oscar for their performances! Way to go boys!

It takes Us A While To Figure It Out...

I thought that this weeks post I would share with you some language issues that we have been having with the little boys lately.

So, it is 8:00 am. and I am sitting at my desk at work and Chuck just calls me and tells me that Alemu just told him that I let them drive my car last night after prayer meeting in the church parking lot. Oops! I confessed and said "yes" that I did. He goes on to tell me that Alemu is trying to convince him that I said that he can drive all the time in the church parking lot. Every time they go to the church. Which for our family that is many times a week. I then had to clarify that I didn't say that but what I did say was that they can only drive in the church parking lot and not on the street until they are 16 yrs. old. Once Alemu was reminded what I said he said "yes, that is what I said to you dad". You see he confuses the words "only" and "every". It takes a while but we all finally figure out what is trying to be communicated.

Here is another example. When they want the television turned on they ask if someone will "open" the TV. I have tried to explain many times that you "open" a door and you turn "on" a TV. Now we just chuckle to ourselves and open the TV.

Israel loves tomatoes! I mean really loves tomatoes. Most kids would not even try bruchetta, this kid devours it. He loves anything made from tomatoes. Marinara sauce, pizza sauce and especially ketchup! One of his favorite snacks is ketchup on a slice of bread. He told Chuck yesterday that "this is berry good"!!! Autumn suggested that we get him his very own bottle of ketchup for his birthday. Sad thing is...he would love it! As long as it is new. Not new...not good.

Both the boys have been given "used" bikes from people in our church. Nice bikes. But they have this idea stuck in their head that because they are not new than they are not good? I am not sure where they got this idea that a new bike is going to be so much better than the ones that they have, but they are saving their money for new bikes. So far they each have $4 dollars. It will take them a while to save enough and probably by then they will need a new bike because they are growing like weeds. We have deliberately tried to not buy them many new things because we didn't want to spoil them right off the bat. But nobody needs to teach children the desire to want.

Last weekend we had our friends Jeff & Amanda visitng from Hood River, Oregon. Jeff loves to goof around. I told Chuck that he should bring home the adult size gorilla costume that we have at the church and we will have a little fun with it. So that evening it is getting dusk and we have Alex get the costume on and just start walking around (like a gorilla) on the patio out back. Israel first sees the gorilla and trys his hardest to explain to us what he just saw. He is even acting out how the gorilla was walking. Alemu at first didn't see it and was trying to tell Israel that it was probably a dog. Israel insisted that he knows what he saw and he saw a gorilla! At this point we are all laughing. Eventually, Alemu saw the gorilla as well and we all played along that it must have escaped from the San Diego Zoo. This went on for about 30 mins. before we decided that it needed to end (they were truely getting concerned). So we had Alex come in the front door and sit at the kitchen table pretending to eat a banana. When they glanced over and noticed the gorilla in the house they freaked out! We quickly had Alex take the head off and they looked confused. Israel then wanted to put the costume on (and he did) but Alemu wouldn't even touch the costume. The next morning they woke up and said that they wanted to play gorilla again. We explained that their new cousins Morgan and Shelby were coming for a visit that day and when it gets dark we will play gorilla again. Oh my gosh!!!! This was the best night ever. The boys were so excited to be a part of the joke. Shelby (age 12) and Morgan (age 14) fell for the joke hook, line and sinker. Shelby wanted us to call animal control and Morgan wanted us to get the only gun we owned ( a bb gun) and shoot it, or at least scare it away. The best part of the night was when Shelby called her dad and told him that there was a gorilla in Aunt Ann and Uncle Chuck's backyard. She insisted that she knows what she saw, and she saw with her own two eyes a gorilla. After literally an hour of this I told Chuck we need to end this, I need to put the little boys to bed. Both Shleby and Morgan were good sports about it but I know that they are planning to get us back next visit. Now everytime, the little boys know that someone is coming over they ask " do they know gorilla?" They are ready to play gorilla on our next victims. They are true Talcott's.

HAPPY EASTER!

This picture was taken at the Annual Kiwanis Easter Breakfast which has been a family tradition for the past few years. The little boys were not real sure about this giant rabbit but they hung in there. I am not sure how much they understood about Easter but they said that they liked it and wanted to play more egg hunt games! Saturday night Autumn was trying to explain to them that the Easter Bunny was going to come to our house while we were sleeping and leave them a surprise. They weren't to sure about that. Israel actually slept at the foot of his bed so he could keep an eye on the bedroom door at all times. He wanted to know how the Easter Bunny was going to get into the house. We said we didn't know but that it was magic. He suggested that maybe he was going to break down the sliding glass door and then fix it with magic when he left. All in all it was a really fun day and the weather in San Diego was perfect to be outside.

So Many Firsts!

Their first time in the hot tub! They love it!!

Their first time at the ocean.

Their first time fishing! Big success! 25 fish!!

Feeding the ducks at Lake Murray. Or maybe more like chasing the ducks at Lake Murray!

First day of school!

They love riding their friends bike after church on Sundays.

Their first time watching an American soccer team play. They both wanted to go and get uniforms and shoes right then and there.

Everyday with these guys is a first. It could be a new food that they have never had or a new word that they think is funny or watching the machine at Long's Drug store drop out the photos that I just ordered. Seeing this life through the eyes of children who could have never imagined life this way is such a priviledge. I have learned that we take everything for granted. We have it so easy in America.