My Birthday

The day started out with breakfast in bed made by Devree & Rylee. Belgium waffles. Yum!
Alex made me a cute card. Then that afternoon we went to the boys Junior Jazz Games. (Devree & Jazmine had a bye so only two hours on hard bleachers instead of three!)

Alex made two baskets which was pretty impressive considering he's very new to this sport. He traveled a lot, didn't even try to dribble and would tentatively try to tap the ball out of the other players hands like he wasn't too sure if he could touch the ball with his hands. He's got some things to work on but he's so athletically inclined I think if he can figure out the rules (which he's already complained about, "Soccer easy!") I think he'll really do well. James tried to go over a few basics with him after the game. He wasn't too receptive at first-he takes offense when you try to teach him anything. He's a little prideful no make that a lot prideful. In fact, later that night we had a break down learning English. (I know, English on Saturday? But he had missed Thursday and Friday and I knew we wouldn't get to it on Sunday with the Richhart Christmas Party.) I took him aside, asked him what was wrong? Shrug. I asked him what he was acting like? He told me, "loser?" I asked if he wanted to know what I thought he was acting like? He nodded. I told him he is acting like a baby and with that he buried his face in his hands and sobbed. Yep, a baby. Babies can't use their words to say what's wrong, they give up and won't try when things are hard and they cry when they don't understand. After explaining this he agreed he was acting like a baby. He sobbed some more and I held him. I told him how big guys tell people when they don't understand and try over and over until they get it and use their words to ask questions. Today? So much better! And lots of hugs and snuggles.

Austin has David Archleta's brother (from American Idol) on his team. David showed up to the game to support his brother. It took Rylee about thirty minutes to get up the nerve to ask him for a photo. She said "I don't mean to be a pest but could I take your picture?" He invited her to be in the picture with him. Rylee's heart was beating so quickly when she returned to our part of the bleachers.
Isn't he a cute guy?? So nice too.

Kambree bought me a beautiful Cameo necklace (you can see it in the picture below) which I wore to church today and my parents gave me money! Always a good gift!
James and I bought a new TV for our bedroom as our birthday gifts to each other. (His birthday is next month.) Why? You may ask when we don't have television service? Because I really miss watching the news AND flipping on the TV while I fold laundry-which is a never ending chore! Our TV in our room was so old it needed a converter box to make the rabbit ears work. So now both boys have a TV for the Xbox 360 and the Xbox so they can play side by side down in the "bachelor pad" and I have basic channels (and a lot of Hispanic channels) to watch while I fold for hours!
I got lot's of text and Facebook wishes for my birthday. Thanks everyone!
James and I had gone to dinner the night before with our friends the Burton's. We've known them since Kambree was a baby. Karen's birthday is the day after mine and we always go out to celebrate together. So ON my birthday James made dinner and bought me a lovely Schmidt's cake and then we went to a movie with my parents and sister and brother in law.
It was a nice day. WAY better than last year when I had that surprise party to celebrate/morn turning forty. Low key is the way I like birthdays!

And because Snezhana shares a birthday with me, this message is for her:
Сніжана З Днем Народження! Надії у вас більше одного!

Ukraine Christmas

January 7th we celebrated Ukraine Christmas.We served 12 dishes (not exactly authentic but close). We had
Borscht (of course)
Perogies
Sour Kraut
Chicken Kiev
Brown Bread
Salad (Assorted)
Mash Potato's
Bratwurst
Poppy Seed Sour Cream Lemon Cake
Ice Cream
Fruit (another of course!)
Russian Cookies
Everyone pitched in and brought a couple of things each and we ate and talked and the kids ran around and played hide and go seek and sardines and laughed and played. You couldn't tell which children were imported and which were domestic.

Memory Monday-Austin & His Civil War Paper

This is one of my favorite stories.....
When Austin was in 7th grade he detested studying. (That is not to say that he loves it now by any means!)
He had a paper due on the civil war. I had pulled up a website with the needed information and a word document and told him "You can do this!" and headed to the gym. About five minutes into my workout he called groaning, "Mom, I need help!"Now when Austin asks for help, he sounds as if he's dying. He always has a stuffed up nose-allergies-and he really pours it on in hopes that I or anyone for that matter will just feel sorry for him and do it for him. Although this would be in all actuality easier for all involved-we never do! I told him, "Austin, go find your Dad, he's there somewhere, let him help you!" Austin-rather than get off the office chair and look for his Dad (who was out in the back yard)-proceeded to call James on his cell phone except he miss dialed by one number.
Austin(in a very exaggerated, sad voice): I need help.
Nice Stranger Man: What?
Austin: I need help!
Nice Stranger: Who is this?
Austin: Austin!
Upon hearing the nice stranger ask his name Austin realized he had the wrong number and promptly hung up. He then walked outside to find his father and the two of them were sitting at the computer working on his paper when the doorbell rang.
The Murray City police were at our door.
Officer: We've had a call and need to confirm if there is a boy named Austin living here?
James: Yes.
Officer: Could we see him please?
James-who was pretty sure of the situation by this time as Austin had told him about the miss dialed call-yells to Austin "Austin, look who's here to help you with your civil war paper!"
Apparently the nice stranger thought Austin REALLY needed help and since he called from our home phone, nice stranger called 911 and told them there was a boy named Austin at this number in dire need of help!
Yes, we laughed and laughed. I think even the police officer laughed and we did call the nice stranger to let him know the true situation.
Austin was very hesitant to come talk to the police officer as he had recently been caught by yours truly egging the neighbors house.
This story is a memory in it's self. I caught Austin and his older friend Justin putting eggs in their pockets and sneaking out the back door. I asked what they were doing? Justin quickly told me they were making eggs at his house and had ran out of eggs. Being the Nancy Drew-ing mother that I am, I smelt something fishy or in this case eggy and I made them return the eggs to me and begin questioning them. The truth came out, apparently, according to Justin, some scary teenagers in masks driving in a car stopped and forced them to throw eggs at the neighbors house. All the while Austin is just nodding and contributing nothing but a look of complete agreement to the lies spewing from Justin's mouth. The boys had to clean off the house-which was actually vacant-the girls that lived there that they felt deserved the egging had moved out the weekend before. Austin and Justin were grounded from playing together for a week as well.
So, when the police officer showed up, Austin was pretty sure he was there to take him for his eggs-tracurricular activities!

Our Christmas!

I know for many of you, you're ringing in the New Year-which we will be doing later tonight but today was our Christmas Day! James got home around five last night and we had an appetizer dinner...

and then the girls danced...
and the boys boxed and played hacky-sac.

Then I rounded everyone up to watch a DVD about the birth of Christ. (Insert sounds of children groaning as they already did the nativity just six days ago!)

Ella graced us with some chocolate barf on Christmas Eve. She apparently found the stash of stocking candy (mini Reese's Peanut Butter Cups) in my closet. I kept finding wrappers all over the house. Nice Christmas gift Ella!
I got Alex tucked in around ten. In his prayers he prayed that "Everybody like what dey get." (My prayer too!)
It took FOREVER to get the girls to sleep. Kambree slept on the floor in Rylee's room and Devree had Jazmine and both sets of girls talked until well past midnight. I asked Austin if he wanted to sleep with Alex? Nope, he'd rather sleep in his own bed. I can't say I blame him, Alex has a drooling issue. I think it's because his tonsils are so big. Last night while tucking him in I asked if he could try to breath through his nose and not his mouth then I sort of wondered out loud that he might need his tonsils out? Wrong thing to bring up. His eyes filled with tears and he said "I no want operation." All the stories of nightmarish Ukraine hospitals and my friend Julee's personal experience came rushing back to me. I assured him that in the US hospitals are safe and people don't die getting their tonsils out (although my niece Emily might beg to differ with me-the older you are the harder it is I understand) AND I told Alex that unless the doctor tells us he needs them out we won't worry about. Just try to breath through your nose and we'll see how it goes.
Santa finally delivered gifts around 1:30 am. (Yawn)
We were woke up at seven by Rylee who had Alex in tow. (He would never dream of waking us, he'd stand next to the bed and breath loud which would wake me up as I'm a light sleeper and sleep with one eye open but he'd never actually wake us up!)
Once Rylee woke us, the first thing Alex told me "Mom I no drool!" (Apparently the breathing through the nose thing worked? That or I terrified him with the tonsillectomy suggestion? Seriously, I had my tonsils out and it wasn't that bad. Or maybe I should just start saving for his therapy session now? As I think more than anything that I scared the snot-or drool in his case-out of him when I causally questioned that he might need his tonsils removed. Good grief. I'm such a good mom!)
I told them if they could get the teenagers up we could go down and see if Santa came. THIRTY minutes later everyone had their hair straightened, teeth brushed and we lined the kids up on the stairs for the obligatory "waiting on the stair picture."
Alex did really well, he'd get ahead of himself a few times wondering where his next present was, and where his stocking was but all in all he did pretty well. He LOVED everything-even his "pajama coat" (robe) and exclaimed, "Look Mom! It fit me!!"
Everyone seemed to like everything. Everyone got clothes, a Wii game, slippers, and the girls all got footy pajamas that give me claustrophobia just thinking about wearing.


Here's pictures of each child with their stash:

Rylee got a scooter, DS game and Barbies,


Alex got a MP3 player, DS game and scooter,


Austin got and Xbox game, I-home and all six Star Wars movies,


Devree got a Karaoke machine and lots of girl stuff


and Kambree a GPS and this green coat!

I had wrapped a few silly things for Jazmine as she actually already had Christmas with both her Mom & Dad but was with us. She's been going through sugar cereal with drawl at our house so I bought her a few boxes and wrapped them and then some little fingernail polishes and makeup kits and did a little stocking for her. She went home today to spend the rest of Christmas break with her Dad. It's still up in the air as to what her living arrangement will be but I have the feeling she'll be here mainly through the school week.
Kam, Austin, Dev and Ry all went in and bought me a Belgium waffle maker and Devree also got me "Stress Relief" body wash and lotion. She told me it will make me less stressed. Hurray, I could use less stress!
James loved his Krocks and jacket-this is him hugging me...
Alex was so excited to give James and I our gifts. He gave James a compass for his car that you can suction to your dashboard or your forehead...
and he gave me a necklace.
This necklace...
(In his defense he only had $1.75 and he thought it said "Great" not "Grad". He told Rylee how "Mom wear to Church and be sad, look down and see GREAT and be happy!") Needless to say, I'll be wearing a "Grad" necklace to church this week. Hey! I have graduated! From not only High School and Real Estate School but the International Crash Course School of Ukraine adoption!
I-I mean Santa-always send the kids on a scavenger hunt for their last big present and then he hides their socks.


James and I slipped away this afternoon and went to Salt Lake Running Company where he had me fitted for a good pair of running shoes and bought me expensive running socks. I'm a little scared to put this out there for all to read but my goal this year is to compete in a mini-triathlon with my sister and The Red Riding Hood Ride with Amy. (Right Amy?) Oh, yikes....typing it makes it official doesn't it? I've never been a runner. Biking and swimming-not a problem, but running? Tomorrow my sister's taking me on a two mile loop. I hope I live!
For dinner I made snow crab and steak and now we're gearing up to head to my sisters for treats and games to ring in the New Year.
It's been a big day, good, weird and big. I am glad we waited for James but we all hope to never have to do that again!
Happy New Year everyone, may 2010 bring you joy, love, health and lots of blog entries!!
Love,
Wendy

Alexisms

After coming home from basketball practice:
Alex: MOM, I make three quarter!!
(Luckily I'm pretty in tune to Alexisms & basketball)
Me: You mean three pointer?
Alex: Yea!
Me: Good job!!

Alex: Mom, I eat tuna? I never eat tuna!
Me: Yes you do. I make tuna sandwiches all the time for your lunch.
Alex: No, not that tuna, tuna like Austin.
Me: You mean oysters? (Austin was eating stinky oysters weeks ago!)
Alex: Yes. Where you buy oysters?
Me: The grocery store
Alex: How much they cost?
Me: Around $2 a can.
Alex: Great! I buy 5 cans! (He just got $10 for having no cavities!)
I share this story because OYSTERS are a bizarre thing to like. At least I think they're disgusting YET all my children like them! James grew up getting oysters in his Christmas stocking and we've continued the tradition with our children. The fact that Alex LOVES oysters is just another little witness to me that he belongs in our family! And I'm so excited to see him get his can of oysters on the 31st! (Even though I hate it when everyone eats them and the house & their breath smell like oysters!)

Alex: Mom, what mission?
Me: A mission? Like when you turn nineteen and go on a mission to teach the Gospel?
Alex: Oh yea. I no have money for my mission. (He has a little bank that says tithing, mission, spending money.)
Me: I know, you should start saving so you'll have money for your mission. Maybe you'll go to Ukraine and you can teach Ivan.
Alex: That too far away and I forget where Ivan live.
Me: Well, I have his address .
Alex: I forget everything Ukraine. My phone code, Ivan house.....sigh.

Speaking of forgetting Ukraine, the other day Alex had a little tiff with Rylee (she bumped him with the empty arm of her coat as she walked by) and he threw the hacky sack at her as hard as he could. Needless to say, I was miffed, I sent him to his room and later went in to talk to him. He had reverted right back to that little boy that wouldn't look at me and just sat stoically awaiting his punishment. I gave my usual lecture on controlling yourself and that boys grow into men and they need to control themselves NOW so when they are men they don't get thrown in jail for hitting and blah, blah, blah. He just stared off into space. Eventually I asked him if he had anything to say for himself and his lip began to quiver. He broke down and said. "I can't forget Ukraine." Puzzled, I pulled him onto my lap, "Honey, I don't want you to forget Ukraine." He then explained, "In Ukraine, boys hit girls." Ah ha! I was so proud of him! This was the first time he has ever been able to verbalize his feelings and frustrations. He knows hitting is wrong-especially hitting girls but he's been conditioned to do it and he's having a hard time letting go of that impulse. The fact that he tried to explain himself and felt so badly just warmed me from head to toe! He's trying so hard to give up his old habits. He sobbed and sobbed while we talked about his Ukraine Dad hitting his Ukraine Mom and hitting girls in the orphanage. I made a big deal about how proud I was that he was able to tell me his feelings. I made a super big deal of his coming forward and told him that although I don't want him to forget Ukraine I do want him to forget the bad behaviors he picked up there and now that he told me, I can help him.

Last night we wrapped up our Harry Potter-a-thon. During the movie I caught Alex looking at me. (Background: Alex has a nervous habit of picking at/itching his face continually-he doesn't even realize he's doing it-so when I see him with his hands on his face I reach over and he gently push them into his lap and then he holds my hand for awhile but eventually lets go to try and itch at/pick at his face. At one point during the movie when I was sneaking a peek to see if his hands were on his face he caught me and asked, "Why you look me Mom?" "Because you're so cute." I whispered.") So, when I caught him looking at me during the movie I asked "Alex, why are YOU looking at ME?" He shrugged his shoulders then snuggled close to me and said very quietly, "Because I loves you so much!"
Ahh...moments like these, fleeting and few are what I live for!

Help Needed....

This waiting for Christmas is driving me mad!!
I'm tired of "I'm bored, there's nothing to do." I'm tired of "How many more days?" I am tired of faking my enthusiasm when I hear "Only four/three/two more days!" (After they've figured out how many more days on their own!) and I'm tired of second guessing myself if I got the right thing, enough or if so and so will like.....
I'm ready to take down the tree and restore my house to it's rightful order and I CAN'T because we haven't had CHRISTMAS!!
I miss my husband, I don't know what to do with all these children (I feel like the old woman in the shoe!) and I'm looking at my calendar realizing with great dismay that we have a 4 1/2 day's in a row out of school mid January and James will be gone for that too!!
I need ideas!!
Ideas of things to do that do not involve
a. a lot of money
b. a ton of energy
c. that entertain from 9-17 years old
d. that a barely speaking English boy can comprehend and not cry through if he can't (Yea, I tried Pictionary thinking it's just a drawing game....NOT!!)
e. that does not involve fattening junk food-we have tons of that hanging around already
and
f. that will not drive me even more crazy and/or damage the walls, floors and ceilings of my house.
PS (And I HATE being cold so it needs to be an indoors activity!)
Okay-I challenge you my blogging friends. What can we do?? Anyone????
PS If you do not know how to comment-yes that means you lurkers out there-email me richharts@msn.com

Crazy Christmas

What an odd Christmas this has been. It was just weird not having James and Santa. In an effort to make the day special I took the kids to see Avatar in 3-D. (Trust me, this is a special thing to do because I am a cheap skate and would much rather wait for movies to hit Red Box when I can watch them in the comfort of my own home, in my jammies, pause them for bathroom breaks and pay a dollar instead of $63!)
Little, did I know Alex had NEVER seen a 3-D movie. He was in awe. At first he whipped off his glasses and exclaimed, "Mom, things coming at me!!" I tried to explain. He put the glasses back on and kept trying to grab things and saying "WOW!" Luckily by the time the show got going he calmed down some. He did duck a few times when things came rolling his way. But afterwords he told me it was "Awesome!"
At one point during the show I realized that he probably wasn't able to read the subtitles when the gigantic, blue people are talking in their native tongue so I leaned over to whisper the words to him and he told me "I know. I read Mom." Oh....okay. Good. Guess all that reading I FORCE him do do each day is paying off!
He handled Christmas pretty well. I actually think it was easier for him then the other kids as he has no idea what he's missing. I did have to ask him to stop asking questions, to just go with the flow, relax and enjoy the day. I told him I would make sure that he wasn't left out of anything and I would take care of him and he doesn't need to worry about everything so much. (Geez...just be a kid!) You see, I explained how the day would go and then minutes later he'd ask me "We open present now?" "Why we go Grandmas?" When we this, why we that etc. The minute anyone would say the word present he'd be in the room asking if we were opening presents? If he had a present? Acting like we're trying to leave him out or secretly open presents behind his back. I know I sound so impatient and uncaring but sincerely, I go over things and then he just turns around and asks questions that I've just covered so at one point today I just said, "No more questions today Alex." That improved my patience dramatically!
He LOVED everything he did get to open. His new pj's and erector set last night and this morning his Jackie Chan movie collection. (Although he says it Chackie Chan) This morning I gave everyone movies to help us get through the next five days until James arrives home. In addition to the "Chackie" collection we got the last three Harry Potters, Hoodwinked and The Holy Grail. So I think we'll have a Harry Potter marathon sometime this week.
The kids decided to open their sibling gifts this afternoon. Well, actually Alex was begging and pleading and ready to burst and everyone else voted with an "I don't care" so they opened them-which is another good thing as Devree gave Alex a Kenectics set that makes about 40 different models and he's entertained himself with them this afternoon. Then we went to Grandma & Grandpa's for dinner and they gave Ry and Alex new DS games and the big kids I-tune cards so I'll be banished from my computer tomorrow as they download all their newest songs. Nice thing is they all have similar taste in music so it's not like getting $25 dollars, it's like getting $75 dollars in music!
My mom made me a fabulous faux fur throw and gave me a Christmas Around the World Ward Cookbook. I found a recipe for Borscht and told Alex and his eyes lit up. That's the one thing he says he misses from Ukraine so I guess I'll be trying my hand a Borscht in the near future. I wonder if beets are a seasonal item?
Everyone seemed to like what they got from their siblings and grandparents. Alex gave Kambree a makeup kit and funky leggings for dance, Rylee gave Austin clothes for basket ball and a pair of boxers in an X-box 360 tin, Kambree gave Rylee real 14K gold earrings with her birth stone and Austin gave Devree the same makeup set that she helped Alex pick out for Kambree (and that she coveted-yes I am so very sly) and sweats for basketball.
Alex also gave Midnight two toy mice. The package said To:Cat From:Alex. He did all his own "folding" (a.k.a. wrapping) and labeling. Spelling cat is much easier than Midnight. The cat and the dog have chewed on the mice all day and I almost screamed thinking I saw a dead, wet mouse in the hallway when we got home. (Great! First creepy Edward, now dead mice!)
Speaking of Edward, Devree brought him down last night during the Christmas Eve party and set him behind Grandma and I while we were washing the dishes, my mom turned around took one look at Edward, screamed and hit him with the pan she was drying. So Edward had a little plastic surgery to re-attach his midsection. My mom felt so bad but I think Edward/Devree got what they had coming for them!
Well, I need to go tuck my babies in and turn off their DS games. I'll post pictures tomorrow if I ever regain control of my computer.
Merry Christmas to all of you in blog land!
And
Happy Birthday Jesus, our Lord & Savior.
~Wendy

December 25th

We slept in until nine and then I let each child open one present. See Alex there in the corner, that is his look of pure excitement!

Everyone got movies to help entertain us for the next six days until Santa comes and James gets home from work.

And Rylee surprised Devree with a necklace she had her eye on. Devree was very touched as Rylee didn't even have her name this year.

Then we were off to my sisters for breakfast!

We went to Grandma Lee's for lunch.
Came home and watched a movie then went to my Moms for dinner.
(My kind of holiday! I didn't have to make a single meal!)
And that night went to see Avatar 3-D.
This is Kambree at the theater giving Santa a high five!