Basketball

The girls have been involved in Special Olympics basketball this winter. They have done really well. We have worked on passing, dribbling and shooting. We have not yet worked up to playing a game. Each of the girls is getting more skilled at shooting the ball. Here is a short video that was taken Tuesday night at practice. So proud of my girls and their hard work on basketball.

School Pictures

School pictures of our lovely ladies. Anne - Grade 3: Emie - Grade 3: Katie - Grade 3: For Katies parents in Ukraine. Katie is in 3rd grade. She is going to school every day and is also involved in sports. She has been playing volleyball and also bowling. She has been taking swimming lessons too. She likes to go to school and is learning many new things each day.

Time Flies By . . .

It was five years ago today that Katie and Emie spent their first full day in the US. We traveled back on Saturday, August 31st and the picture below was taken on Sunday, September 1st. The picture from today is taken with the girls in the same order: katie, annie and emie. The past five years in some ways have just flown by and in other ways - moved at a very slow pace; however - we are thankful for our girls and we wouldn't want our family to be any other way. We are so thankful that Katie and Emie have found a place in our family and in our hearts as well.

Happy and Sad

This post is for those that haven't heard from other sources - but Karens mom - aka Nana Lind passed away yesterday. There are so many things that we are thankful for. We are thankful for the person that she was; the witness that she had and the great mom and grandma that she was to all of us. We were able to see her this past weekend, when we were in Albert City for the 2013 Threshing Bee and she was in good spirits and enjoyed our visit. The girls danced, the Brown boys played their instruments and we took pictures outside. Little did we know that those were the last moments that she would have here on earth. We know she is in heaven and we know that she is now free from any earthly ailments; and just enjoying her first morning in heaven. We are so thankful for her and look forward to being reunited one day.

Happy 10 Years Old

This is both a birthday and an anniversary. Katie is 10 years old! We have had a big and fun birthday celebration. We waited until today to celebrate (Sunday) as her birthday was 19 July (Friday) because Daniel and Andrew have been away on a missions trip. The anniversary part is that it was also 5 years ago that we left for Ukraine on 19 July to adopt Katie and Emie. Katie has now lived half her life with us. We are thankful for her parents and very thankful that they have allowed us to adopt her. We are so thankful for Katie and for all the life, energy and joy that she brings. One of her favorite wake up sayings has been and continues to be "sunny day". With Katie, every day is a sunny day and her joy for life is a constant reminder of needing to look for the good. In case it wasn't obvious - this was a Scooby Doo themed day for Katie. One of her favorite cartoons to watch with her buddy Pepper is Scooby Doo. We love our Katie! and want to share some photos with you from her birthday party today.

Spring Time Fun

We have been bad at posting lately. We had a email from Katies mom and dad recently and they look at the blog regularly; so we will try and do a better job of posting pictures - sorry we have not been good. We will also try and post a picture of katie that you can see how much she has grown! She just finished second grade this year and worked very hard. She did well and is learning letters, numbers and many other things in school. In one picture taken about one month ago - Katie is flying a kite. She likes to fly kites.

Many faces of Katie

Katie has recently lost another tooth. This is a series of pictures taken before bedtime, just trying to get a photo of her new missing tooth. She has so many faces - many of them funny - just trying to get that 'one' photo.

March is for Birthdays

We start with David - aka Pepper. We celebrated David's sixth birthday with nana and poppa S. David opted for a yummy ice cream and strawberry cake and had his friend Sam D over for gift opening on Saturday morning.

Wedding

Katie, Emie and Annie love weddings - especially Annie. We were all in our wedding finery for the wedding of a friend of ours from North Dakota. Hope you enjoy the photos.

Tea Party

The girls enjoyed a tea party the other night. Kasie (our PCA) was here and she had them bathed and all ready for bed - about 5 pm; so the girls took out their tea party supplies and had a nice little supper using about 350 dishes! David got to join too.

Gingerbread Houses

An annual tradition at our house it to make gingerbread houses; this year also included the triplets next door and later in the afternoon another neighbor friend of Davids' so in all - I think a dozen houses were made. The photos are included below.

First Snow

Last year was somewhat disappointing for snow. We never really had enough to do much of anything. Especially not sledding. Well - the winter of 2012 - 2013 is off to a nice change. Saturday night - it started snowing, and this morning it was still snowing and this afternoon - it is still snowing. Probably a foot has come down already. For me, it means snowblower time, for the kids - it means sledding. Two years ago, when we did sledding with Katie, Emie and Annie - they needed constant supervision and help getting on the sled, up the slope and everything in the middle. What huge progress we have seen in the past two years. All of them are doing everything on their own, they love the outdoors, they love to sled and play in the snow. Katie especially loves to be outside, throwing snow, sliding on the hill and playing in the snow. Today we were about for about 1 hour - it was very fun. Here are a few pictures - Anne snuck inside before I had a chance to get a photo - but we'll get one sometime soon.

Overdue

Several things in our life seem overdue. We have had 2 overdue library books in the past few months and with getting back to school and all the other fall activities - posting is also overdue. This is especially for Vikas parents in Ukraine. We email with them and this is the main way they can see photos of their daughter. She is happy and healthy and growing. Her speaking of English has really improved; she is using bigger words and also more words in sentences. Here are some photos from the last few months:

This is Katie and her sisters and mom and dad at a summer picnic.

with all her brothers and sisters

riding on a trailer to go get pumpkins for Halloween.

In the US we have Halloween - the children dress up in costumes and go out and get candy - it is very fun and Katie likes it very much!

Pepper off to Kindy

Our last one is off to school! Hard to believe - we have sophomores in high school and a kindergartener! The WBL schools are full of Shervheims' right now. We were wondering how the school transition would go with him - because he is somewhat a homebody - and just tolerated pre-school last year. However, we are happy to report the transition went well and the year is off to a great start. This guy is liking school - looking forward to it and he has a bus ride home with his big brother Sam - which is pretty cool that he has someone to look out for him and help him get from school to home everyday.

Overdue Post from August

To celebrate the last week of summer and before school and fall activities start - we took a trip up to the cabin last week. It was a shortened week; only being there between Friday and Wednesday morning, but as always - we had lots of great family times. Our helper Kelsey was there with us too. A few of the highlights captured in pictures.

A trip to the Taconite plant in Two Harbors for a factory tour; we got to see how they make taconite pellets from the iron ore mined in Babbitt. Very interesting. Also, Anne seemed to have put away all her fears of vehicles, she rode on the 3 wheeler, 4 wheeler and was a huge sport to ride in the canoe as well. Sam took his first kayak solo trip on Delay Lake and did great. A morning spent at the beach in Beaver Bay, lots of campfires and s'mores and a great time was had by all.