Help.......please?

What a nightmare.

No, not anything life threatening.

Just computer related.

I knew for awhile I needed to monitor the use of the computers in our house. Not because I thought anyone was doing anything bad-just not doing anything productive. I can't tell you how many times a certain young woman or two has been "facebooking" or down loading I-tunes when her jobs were not done, bed not made, breakfast not eaten, self not dressed etc.

And sometimes my one hour limit was pushed to the max-like FOUR or FIVE hours a day.

And some of the crap we avoid by NOT having TV found it's way into our home via Hulu and You-tube.

So, I told James I was going to do it-I was going to set up passwords and he agreed.

Then I didn't do it.

So back up to Tuesday night? Or was it Wednesday. Technically it was 2:20 in the morning so who knows? It's a blur. But a certain daughter was having a sleep over with another young lady that lives here off and on and I sat up from a deep sleep with a sense of something wrong and noticed the downstairs light on. Nothing out of the ordinary there-it's the light I leave on for the kids if I go to bed before they do-they often leave it on. But, as I was stumbling down the stairs to turn it off I noticed a crack of light illuminating under the door of this certain daughters room. I opened it to discover her and her friend TEXTING!!! (Did I mention 2:20AM!!) I was livid. I took the cell phone. Which immediately began vibrating with a message from some boy named Jake. (I might have said "Give me that damn cell phone." as I ripped it out of said daughters hands, but it was so very late so I can't be completely sure. Certainly swearing was justified at this time of night? Right?)

I went to bed. I laid their stewing. Thinking how stupid I must be. I have friends that make their kids dock their cell phones in their rooms at ten pm. I have friends that go through their children's text history. I have friends that check on their kids emails. I don't do any of that. I figure it's a privacy issue and I trust my kids. But I felt like such the fool. TEXTING BOYS AT TWO AM!!!

So I resolved to be a more diligent if not un-fun and controlling by not only taking the cell phone of daughter in question each night but now I was MAD and I was going to password protect the computers.

She will be sorry. She will rue the day she pushed me this far!

I set up passwords for both the Mac and the PC. (Both the same password mind you-I knew I would struggle between the two remembering which was which.) Both passwords worked beautifully. Until the next day when I went to login on to the Mac and it wouldn't accept my password. Nor the original administrator password. I was able to google on the PC-that readily accepted my password-and trouble shoot the Mac back to compliance. (Except now I keep getting these prompts for some sort of key chain password and none of the three passwords I have ever created and used on the Mac will suffice. Yet it continues to let me send and receive mail and use my other applications. Go figure?)

But tonight upon attempting to log into the PC the password I created and have used for the past 24+ hours is incorrect. What the heck? Nothing I do can get me past the login screen. I goggled-this time from the Mac-and tried the administrative override but the memorized password-that I didn't even type in is not being accepted.

Help!

Anyone a computer geek out there? Suggestions? (Besides using a hammer?)

Of course this is all my daughters fault. Wouldn't you agree?

Her only response is, "Well, maybe you shouldn't have put passwords on the computers?"

Grrr......

Shopping Lessons

Yesterday we went shopping.
It's hot and the mall is air conditioned and it's a fabulous way to spend a hot summer afternoon. We were going to hit the clearance racks for back for back to school clothes and I was hoping to get some ideas from Devree about what she wants for her birthday.
Normally this is a girl only affair as I couldn't PAY Austin to join us and he was gone anyway but Alex-upon hearing we were going to the mall-assumed he was invited as well. Well, okay.....
We hit Aeropostale first.
I found James and Austin clearance swim trunks. Alex modeled a pair of sunglasses he wanted for his birthday. They were like the one's the Erick Estrada wore on Chips and they were HUGE! I wish I had my camera. I burst out laughing-I couldn't help it. Kambree saw him across the store and informed him they were girl glasses. He thought he looked so cool but honestly, they looked almost like clown glasses on his little face.
Alex is too small to fit into much at this store so he just followed me around from rack to rack-not looking at anything-just dutifully following me around. The only break I got was when I went into the dressing room. The minute I came out-bam! There he was right next to me. Every time I turned around he was in the way.
I decided we'd go to a store with clothes his and Rylee's size. (Note: Rylee LOVES shopping and she will try on clothes ten times too big for her-and comb through the racks-she'll shop anywhere!)
We went upstairs at Sears to the kids department. I showed Alex his area, told him his size, explained that we're looking for sales and pointed him towards the clearance rack. I followed Rylee across the isle to her area. Alex would bring me over a shirts-button down the front, plaid shirts. He would say:
Alex: "Look mom this shirt."
Me: Do you LIKE this shirt?
Alex: No.
Then he'd take it back and bring me over more-very similar shirts.
Me: Would you wear that to school?
Alex: No.
Me: Then why are you showing me this shirt?
Alex: (Shrug)
Grrr....why in the world would he be showing me shirts he doesn't even like or will wear? Shopping is clearly a skill he has yet to develop.
Me: Okay, just bring me over things to look at that you LIKE and would WEAR. That is the point of shopping.
I eventually went over and combed the racks with him and since I have an aversion to all things with skulls and cross bones there just wasn't any thing worth even trying on. Not a good sales day in the boys size 14 slim department. (Although we did have a lesson about what slim vs husky means and why he has to find pants with a 14S on them.)
At one point during our shopping trip-each girl-me included-asked Alex to fix his hair. He's insisting on having a shag like Justin Bieber yet he doesn't take care of it. It just flops in his eyes and sticks up here and there. For caring about how his hair is cut-he certainly doesn't care about how his hair is combed. Oh well. At least it's clean. Baby steps. I'm trying to remember if Austin was like this at his age and I don't think he cared about how he combed his hair either but he also didn't care about how his hair was cut so we kept it short.
We caught up with the older girls and hit a few more stores with Alex just 12 inches away from me. Finally I told him he was giving me claustrophobia. Of course we had to have a vocabulary lesson on what that actually is.
We stopped at Mrs. Fields and I got all the kids a cookie. (Torture for me as I LOVE cookies.) Alex wanted a brownie and we had a quick lesson on graciously taking what is offered and the cost of a brownie vs a cookie.
Then we went into Claires-the store that gives me claustrophobia in its own right and Alex is once again right by my side- so now I'm not only hitting the displays with my bags-I'm bumping into Alex every time I turn around. Exasperated I send him to the front of the store. "Just stay out there. You don't want to look at anything in here anyway."
I soon left Claire's instructing the girls to meet me at Dillards and that I would take "Velcro" boy with me. He was actually looking at the cell phone booth in the middle of the mall. Hurray! He found something to look at!
He walked with me to Dillards and we had yet another lesson. I asked if he were at a store of interest would he like it if I followed him this close-and I placed myself as close to him as he has been to me- and just stared at him?
No.
He smiled when he saw how ridiculous I looked following him and gazing at him. I think he finally got the point.
Then I asked him why did he want to go to the mall with us in the first place?
Alex: Because I can't stay home by self.
Me: No, but we could have made plans for you to play with Brach or something. You didn't have to go with us. I explained before we left that we were only shopping for school clothes. And it's apparent you really don't care to shop for clothes.
Alex: Oh.
We hit a lovely sale at Dillards. I found Alex a place to sit and he was set guard over our bags. He was very patient and sat and played with his wheels on his Heely's. We were there for quite a long time-having a fabulous time-the girls were trying on formals-and we found quite a few good deals. Poor Alex just patiently sat with our packages. At one point the sales clerk asked Alex if he was grounded? "No, just watching bags for my mom."
We rushed out when we realized the time and that we were suppose to have dessert made and be at a ward picnic in less than thirty minutes.
We stopped at Smiths and grabbed a dessert and ran home to let the kids change into swim suits.
Luckily, there were water games and Alex got to run and jump and play to his hearts content! Something I'm sure he enjoyed after our torturous mall trip.
The picnic was at the park right by our house and pretty much over when I told the kids it was time to go home. Everyone wanted to stay so I told them (Devree, Rylee, Alex & Jasmine) that was fine-just stick together. I walked home and stopped at my parents and sat and talked with them for sometime. It was so nice. About an hour passed when my cell phone rang. As I answered it I said "I bet it's Alex asking where I am." Sure enough.
Mom?
Yes, Alex
Where are you?
He was home. I asked where everyone else was. "At park." "Remember I told you all to stick together?" "Oh." "Alex, you need to listen. You didn't listen and now you're home all by yourself." Silence. "That's okay, just get in the tub I'll be home soon."
With that I left. (I was two doors away.)
Sigh.

Birthday Babble

I-yi-yi!
Birthday's are upon us!
Alex's is a week from today. Invitations are out. We're taking him and eight of his closest friends to the drive in. He's asked for marshmallow brownies instead of a cake. That I can do. His list is a mile long of things he'd like so I'm not too worried about the shopping. He's actually pretty easy. We were taking about what restaurant to go to-with the three birthdays within a week we just combine all three into one dinner-which I did explain to Alex-at one point he said "Just surprise me." Then later he asked about Red Lobster then switched to Chuck A Rama. I told him we'd have to talk with the girls. "Why it's MY birthday?" And we went over again how we're going out for all three birthdays at the same time. I know. It's not fair-but I do MAKE them their choice of dinner on their birthday. (Seriously? There's no way we can take all SEVEN of us out to eat three times in seven days AND buy birthday gifts AND throw parties. Good grief!)
Devree's party is on the 30th and she's elected to stay home so she can invite THIRTY friends to watch a movie projected on our garage. Yes, James will be home. Thank heavens.
Kambree's birthday is August 3rd and the same day as our Raging Waters party with our orthodontist. Not sure what she has in mind but hopefully it involves a few friends tagging with us to Raging Waters.
Throw my one and only sisters birthday the day between Alex and Devree's and it pretty much sums up the week!
Good gracious. How did I have all these children at the same time? I know I had no control over Alex's birthday but after one long, hot, miserable pregnancy through the month of July you would have thought by my third baby I would have known better?
Oh well. Once I get through August third I'm home free until January for birthdays!

Funny kids

Tonight Rylee asked me what immigrants are.
I began to explain. I explained the difference between illegal immigrants and immigrants using Alex as the example that if he hadn't gone back to Ukraine and we hadn't done the proper paper work then he would be illegal but because we did all the proper paper work he is a legal citizen of the United States-that he actually has dual citizenship with Ukraine.
Alex pipped in "But I cannot speak Ukraine."
I know, but you couldn't speak English at first either. Maybe someday you will re-learn Ukraine?
Rylee: When you go on your mission you will have three languages. English, Ukraine and your mission language.
Me: Right maybe you'll go to China and learn Chinese.
Rylee: Maybe you'll go to Japan and learn Japananglish.
Me: (Laughing) Do you mean Japanese?
Alex: I want to learn to speak Kung Foo!
And with that he made some funky karate moves and sounds.

Conversations With Alex

Tonight while tucking Alex in I was telling him about a boy that was hosted by two different families and when one of the families showed up to adopt him he cried because he really wanted to go with the first family.
Why? He asked.
I don't know. I replied. Then I continued,
Maybe the first family had a cooler house or more money or something. I don't know.
Alex: Maybe he wanted lots of presents?
Me: Yes. Maybe.
Alex: Not me. I don't care about presents I just wanted a mom.
Sweet huh?
Then he quickly asked:
Why do American's have so much money?
I began to reply but then he thought of a much more pressing question,
Why do we fart?
I tried to shift gears and give a somewhat serious yet accurate answer all the while wondering how we went from one question to the next without a breath of thought.
Alex: It's really gas? Can it light on fire?
Me:Yes. But if you really feel you need to try it, you need to have your dad's supervision. I don't know anything about it and you could burn your bum.
(Seriously. I know this boy better than tell him he can't do it because he'll try or to leave him with a "Yes, it will light on fire" because then he'll for sure try but perhaps suggesting parental supervision will deter him? It was worth a shot...right?)
Oh. I don't want to burn my bum. I will not do it.
(Whew!)

Sydni's Birthday

Many families have family heirlooms.

Diamond rings.

China.

Antique Furniture.

But nothing as cool as mine....

No, it's not the Barbie Cake.

Nope, not even the Barbie doll.

It's the Barbie PAN!!

I inherited it when my Grandma Johnson passed away. The very pan that she use to use to make ME Barbie cakes with when I was just a little girl. Am I lucky or what? (It helps that my Aunt Bev loves me and knew I really wanted it and she made sure I got it.)

Now, I am not a cake decorator by any stretch of the imagination but I do LOVE making Barbie cakes. So, I was honored that my niece Sydni requested a Barbie cake for her 3rd birthday. (That or my sister talked her into it as Kammy making a cake with her broken foot was probably NOT an option)

Here is Syd and Kam with the cake.

And me helping Syd cut her cake.

Opening presents....

And an away shot to get the full picture of Kam's poor foot!

Syd is so fun to give gifts too as she's such girly girl-the polar opposite of my sis! I didn't get the squeal of delight on camera when she opened her Tinker Bell dress-up we gave her but here she is getting her pink feather boa from Grandma and Grandpa.

Happy Birthday sweet Syd!

Sunday S'mores!

The best part of Game On Diet! Is free day! Once a week we get to eat whatever we'd like. (We have found that we do have to be somewhat reasonable. Like, you can't consume 10,000 calories in one day and expect to lose weight that week!) And Sunday is usually our day. We went shopping on Saturday and found these amazingly HUGE marshmallows. This picture does not do it justice. That is a large marshmallow next to our super huge mellow. The penny was suppose to give it perspective but really....it's doesn't! I would say these super, enormous mellows are about four times the regular big mellow.

So Sunday, we made S'mores! Yum.

Over the gas flame on the stove. (Too hot for a fire in the fire pit outside. Good grief.)

"Mom, this marshmallow too big!"

(He's not really mad here-it's just his serious Ukraine look!)

Very messy

But yummy!

Wendy Words

Last night I took the kids (three out of five) to the pool for "Inflatable Night". (The one night once a month during the summer they allow inflatable blow up toys in the pool.) I calendared it-determined to go-and it's a good thing as things kept popping up and I had to keep reminding everyone "We're going to Inflatable Night!"

Well, it was from eight to ten and I decided to NOT wear a swimming suit and just go as the "fun" parent that I am and watch and read my book.

My book was a bomb-as in not interesting or good-unlike the modern day definition of " the bomb" as in, "He's the bomb!". That's suppose to be a good thing now days?

Anyway, I digress.

I was quickly bored and getting cold. (Funny, I just blogged about how hot I was two days ago!) I called James to pass the time.

We got to talking and he was telling me how he thinks that people with hardships, trials and handicaps are going to find Heaven just so much sweeter than those who have had it easier. Perhaps he's right.

Now, without tempting fate or putting out bad mojo-I think we're pretty blessed. We don't have too hard of trials compared to so many (and I would like to keep it that way). I pointed out that it takes having something hurt or not work to appreciate it. Like a broken toe. Man-alive, you just don't appreciate NOT having a broken toe until it's broken! Am I right or what?

I also pointed out perhaps the sweetness of Heaven has something to do with gratitude?
To this day I never do my laundry without a great sense of gratitude for my dryer.
Seriously.
Every time.
And I do laundry A LOT!

Living in Ukraine for six weeks and one day has given me great perspective when it comes to so many creature comforts.

I love my dishwasher, my disposal, the fact that I can rinse my mouth with water right from the tap when brushing my teeth. As much as I hate summer construction on the roads I am so grateful to have streets without potholes and sidewalks without cement chunks sticking up. I am grateful for clean air, landfills with garbage (and not garbage everywhere and anywhere), that we don't have wild dogs running in packs-for the most part and that I can understand the language around me-again for the most part.

Fast forward to this morning: Alex just couldn't think of a thing to write in his gratitude journal. I suggested his eyes, that he can see. Then I went on with his healthy body, his reconditioned bike that his Dad spiffed up for him, his air conditioned house, and the list kept going. "Okay, okay Mom. I got it!" "Alex, there are hundreds of things to be thankful for. You just have to think about it."

Back to last night: Sitting there last night-while talking to James-by the clean, non-contaminated pool on a comfy lawn chair while children clad in colorful swimsuits splashed and played with their parents-or at least their parent is present but observing with book in hand-I couldn't help but compare that scene to the pictures and descriptions on my friends blogs currently in Ukraine. Descriptions and pictures of children walking down a dusty roads in 102+ weather for twenty five minutes to get to the contaminated river/swimming hole complete with moss and rusty nailed boards rigged into diving platforms. Some with dangerous rocks jetting out under bridges as children jump into the water below. Where swimming suits are optional as underwear works just as well and there are no rules, no life guards, and no parents. Where you don't drink the water and if you do, you get sick-well at least the American's that join them. Other friends while observing their soon to be son at camp in Ukraine learned the children were not allowed to put their heads under the water. Seriously. Contaminated water.

How very blessed I am and probably you too.

I not only grew up with a clean, safe public pool but with parents holding out warm towels to be wrapped in, treats to snack on while loving hands reapplied sunscreen and remind me "not to swim until thirty minutes after eating". How blessed was I to have a strong, fun Dad that tossed me in the air and taught me to dive for pennies and made the biggest splashes-even getting the lifeguards wet-with his great cannonball!

How blessed are all children to have a mom (with book in hand or not) to give attention to each "Watch me mom!" "Look at me mama!"

To have a Dad that works hard so they have new swimsuits each season and snacks and admission to the pool.

How blessed are children with parents.

Loving parents.

It's all about perspective and appreciation isn't it?

Don't you think Heaven will be just that much sweeter for not only those without

but for those with gratitude & appreciation?

I sure hope so.

I hope to find more gratitude and love and if at all possible avoid going without or any hard trials and heavy hardships.

(I'm banking on gratitude to keep us safe & make Heaven sweet!)
So that was our casual poolside conversation.
One of James' favorite subjects.....Heaven!

Here's to clean, chlorinated water, swimsuits and sunscreen!
May your children get their fill this summer!

One Little Guy Looking for a Family!

I knew adopting would change my life but I didn't know how greatly it would expand my circle of friends or how I'd be following along others during their adoption experience. We have four families in Ukraine adopting right now and lucky for me they each keep a blog. (You can find their links on my side bar!) I check on their blogs about five times a day!

One family is at Alex's orphanage in Dnipro and we've been able to see pictures of Alex's friends-one boy named Bogdan is in line to be adopted and Alex asks about him all the time, "When Bogdan come to America mom?" "I going to teach Bogdan American math!" (Because math in America is so different than math in Ukraine?)

Two of our families are at an orphanage in Sumy and both have mentioned this boy below, Dima. His story breaks my heart as does the thousands of stories out there. But the Stockwells and Gledhills can tell his story first hand so here are excerpts from their blogs regarding this boy, Dima.

This is from the Stockwell Blog

Today was difficult at the orphanage. Some of the children who don't have families, or who have never been hosted, were pained by the two sets of parents there today (us and Gledhills) here on the trip to take our children home to America. Little Dima/Punya, our little buddy, was found walking alone and crying before we left tonight. We went up to him and he was shy and trying to hide that he was crying. But he confided that he feels alone, and I would imagine that of course he feels this way, watching us here at the orphanage to pick up other children. We can't get him off our mind tonight, and are determined to find little Dima (and the others) a home, a family, a life outside of the orphanage complete with love and opportunities. We've bonded with so many of these kids in the last 9 days... I find myself praying for them all the time. I know we can't adopt everyone, but I'm telling you I wish we could.

And from the Gledhill Blog

We had a great time with the kids at the orphanage Saturday. We also met Dima who is a sweet kind boy , 13 years old. He is a great soccer player. Yesterday we were talking with the all the kids and we later found out that Dima went off in tears. We learned that he wants a family. It was so hard on him to watch us, knowing that two of his friends are soon to leave with a Mom and Dad. This broke our hearts. I could hardly get home that night without crying in the taxi. It all came out when I walked in the apartment. I have never felt so humble.

I'm posting this picture and these excerpts as you just never know who might read it, be touched or have a witness that this boy half a world away was meant to be a part of their family.

God bless and God speed Stockewell's, Gledhill's, Wendleboe's and Mecham's. You are in my prayers!

My Blog Soap Box

Man it is hot!!
Hot, hot, hot!
And I'm sitting in my air conditioned house!
I should be making dinner but did I mention....it's hot?
So what am I doing? I sat down to the computer to enter some purchases in Quicken and make a menu for the week-I'd just returned from taken the kids to the library for their reading awards and a quick stop at the grocery store and then I thought I'd check on our families in Ukraine and I got sucked into blog world.
My blog world.
You know how those little "If you liked this entry you might enjoy...." and three other posts are at the bottom of each post? Well, it's just a random thing and I see the same posts all the time come up but today I clicked on one that I hadn't see in awhile and it was last July-the entry about Alex making cookies and going to the airport to meet Katya and the Lobo's when they came home. I thought it would be interesting to read what we were doing last year at this time-I was doing that through our adoption experience but had stopped-and then I was lost....lost in my own blog. I had forgotten so many of the things I had blogged about. Last year at this time Alex had been home less than three months and was saying the funniest and most tender things. I am so glad I recorded them. You always think you'll remember this or that but you don't. At least I don't. It was so fun to read what we were doing and see the progress that Alex has made. It was fun to see all the kids and notice how much they've changed in just a years time. It was tender to think back about my father-in-law who passed away last July.
My favorite entry in July was when Alex told me that he wished he was born from my tummy. And I had forgotten all the funny things and odd sentence structures he use to use. I don't have a baby book for Alex, a lock of his hair from his first haircut, pictures of him eating his first birthday cake. I have nothing like that, but I do have my blog-a record of his firsts with us.
So people....the three of you that read....BLOG!!! Not because I want to read more-you all know I'm trying to cut down to an hour a day-but because you will forget! I think sometimes we feel like we need to have something important to say or an important event-I know I feel that way sometimes but it's the day to day, every day ordinary posts-the one's where no one comments because there's not much to say? Those are the ones I love. Oh how I wish there had been blogs-or I had recorded in my journal-when all my children were babies. The funny things they said, the tears and trials. I attended church a few weeks ago in one of our old wards and I couldn't remember a thing from that time of our life. Kambree was three and Austin one when we moved and the only memory I could conjure up sitting in the chapel was a little dress that Kambree wore with bears on it. I could remember a dress!!! THAT WAS IT!

This quote is off of my friend Sara's blog and is so very true....
Do not trust your memory, it is a net full of holes; the most beautiful prizes slip through it. --George Duhamel

Well, it's still hot and now we're hungry too.
Guess I need to get off the computer!