Ahhh...Fall!

School is in full swing. The air is getting cooler. Our annual camping trip to Crabtree Falls is coming up. So...it must be Fall. This is definitely my favorite time of year because 1) the summer's in CLT are nearly unbearable and 2) well...you'll have to wait til the end of the post for the biggest reason why Fall is my favorite (I doubt it will shock any of you).

Fun with Mr. Potatohead! Check out Daniel and Luis' attempts at putting a Mr. Potatohead together. Be sure to note the shoes (or zapatos as we say) for ears on Daniel's and the tongue for hair on Luis'. Pretty awesome! And they were so proud of their creations.

We really are making progress with the dogs. Every morning, Samuel helps me put the dogs in their crates, then the twins spend a couple of minutes taunting them while working up the courage to stick their hands through the bars. ALL of them now let the dogs give besos to their hands. This is followed by a lot of squealing. We still can't all be in the same room (only Samuel is OK with hanging out with the dogs), but I consider the fact that they are willing to touch the dogs at all a real victory.

On Sunday we went to this really cool event called "Touch-A-Truck". It was like it was created just for our boys, but it is really a fundraiser for lung cancer research (which is a cause very dear to me because I lost both my grandmother and - just this year - my aunt to this horrible disease). There were all sorts of trucks/vehicles for the boys to sit in/on. It was AWESOME!!! One of their favorites was the army helicopter.

I have this great video of the boys running around with other kids while all of us parents stand in line to make sure that our children are able to experience the helicopter. I will have to upload it to YouTube since it is sort of long.

How cute are they? You might be thinking, "Where is Daniel?" This is about the time when mama was rushing to the restroom which was quite a hike while carrying a 30-something pound kid who kept reminding me repeatedly that he needed to "chi-chi". Can anyone explain to me why children always have to go when there is NO bathroom convenient? Is it one of Murphy's Laws?

Lastly, the real reason I am glad it is fall - TV is back!!!! I am beyond excited to be in the midst of premiere week. I have many shows that I love, and we have plenty of room on the DVR. Why else do you think we get the kids in bed by 8 PM?

Just a few more updates: Samuel has gotten a sticker from his teacher everyday this week. In fact, I think he is up to 6 stickers in a row. This is a great little victory for us because it means that he is understanding Papa when he tells him to listen to his teacher and not worry about what the other kids are doing. We are very close to figuring out what to do with the twins while I go to work. We have a couple things to work out, but I should be ready to go full-time next week.

Our Kids Are Rock Stars

Where to begin? The bad thing about waiting so long in between posts means that there is just that much more to post.

Samuel and I went to his open house on Friday. He will indeed be in Kindergarten this year. Troy and I are pleased with this decision. After discovering just how demanding the first grade curriculum is in the Charlotte-Mecklenburg school system - including a lot of reading which Samuel is no where near ready for - we feel like this is the best scenario for him. We don't want him to be perpetually behind from day one, and since he has a tendency to give up on stuff without really trying, we worried that he would simply hate school and never really give it a try. He is already facing a big challenge with the language barrier. His teacher, Ms. Counselman, is excellent though and he seems to like her already. After Thursday's assessments, she pulled a bilingual boy named José into her class so Samuel will have an instant amigo. He is very excited about this, and though he hasn't met José yet he was talking about him at dinner tonight. I also met his ESL teacher and found out that she will be meeting with him 3-4 times a week which is encouraging for us.

As for English at home, Samuel has started saying "sorry" in context. He also uses the phrases "Come on amigos, let's go!" and "Oh my gosh!" Of course the twins mimic him.

Yesterday was my birthday! Yay!!!! I love my birthday. It is my favorite day of the year. Having children made the day ten times sweeter though. The boys were really excited all day. The night before during bedtime prayers, Samuel said he was thankful for my birthday (I swear I had nothing to do with this!) The boys gave me a shirt and a skirt that will both be great for work. Troy asked them what they wanted to get me and Samuel told him a blue dress like the one I am wearing in our wedding picture because I look happy - how sweet is that! My husband, who is the greatest husband in the world, made the day equally sweet because he put together a party and bought us tickets to see Iron & Wine in Asheville in November (he has even started pre-arranging childcare).

Then today we finally took the plunge and went to church. We knew today was a special service directed towards families, including the sermon. Also, with people from church bringing us meals, we knew the boys would recognize some faces. They were so good, sat still, and were pretty much quiet the whole time. I thought ahead and took the twins' blankets which I think helped keep them quiet. They of course loved the music. Troy sat with Samuel so he could translate the sermon. The theme of the service was God's Word being a lamp unto our feet. Troy was explaining to Samuel that the Bible is God's direction for our lives and Samuel says to Troy (in Spanish), "But only for me, not for Luis Angel and Daniel." Hilarious! He wants so badly for anything to just be his - even the Word! After the service they were basically rock stars since the whole congregation has been following our story on-line. Luis (our introvert) needed some cuddle time once he started to feel overwhelmed, but there were several people able to speak Spanish to them so I think they felt pretty comfortable. We skipped Suday School (one new thing at a time). However, as a part of today's "Family Sunday" theme, we had our summer picnic after church. This was a great way to further introduce the boys to members of our church family and other children in the church. It was super hot and humid, but they were real troopers. I can't believe how great they were today!

Also, one thing we have started doing is using positive reinforcement. Troy and I are so exhausted from yelling, refereeing, and policing that we thought it was time to take a new approach. So we hung some poster board up in their room and when they follow the rules and listen, they get stickers. So far, so good. We are on the learning curve right now, but there have been fewer time-outs and less yelling so I think we are getting there.

Final thoughts: This weekend has been HUGE for me. When we moved here three years ago, I did so very reluctantly, kicking and screaming. I was convinced that I would always hate Charlotte and forever mourn moving from Norfolk. While I do miss my family and friends from Norfolk everyday, I was reminded this weekend of just how far we have come. Maybe it took going to Colombia for over a month to make me finally call Charlotte home, but I am so thankful for the friends we have made here. I am also beyond thankful for the church family that God has led us to be a part of, we have felt incredibly loved by our congregation since we started attending Providence earlier this year.