Adjoa's School Work

I've been saving up a few of Adjoa's school pictures. They always draw pictures of what they talked about at school that day. It's a great way for me to get information out of her. Without the pictures I'm left with conversations that go something like this:

M: What did you do at school today?
A: We took a nap. We ate lunch. We played outside all the time. And we sang songs. {She says this as she counts each item on her fingers. Like she made a point to remember her list and she's making sure she gets them all. Such dedication for so little information.}

So the pictures help a great deal.

Here's what she's been learning about lately:

Snow!



I got a lot of info on this one. Adjoa demonstrated how penguins walk. She went into great detail about how they slide around and how they catch goldfish to eat. She talked about their eggs and babies. And she was so excited to educate me on the fact that they live in the snow. She thought they were so lucky - playing in the snow all day. What a treat!



Mayflower. I particularly love the waves.


This one cracks me up. The brown and black arches are the bear's cave. The green is the grass. So what is the black circle around the bear???? I assumed it was the cave. Nope. Adjoa informed me that is a blanket for the bear to sleep on! Of course. What was I thinking?


A very fat chipmunk. With a very tiny head and lots of colorful splotches surrounding him.

On Account of it Being National Adoption Month

I scanned these pictures a while ago and just realized I never posted them. Shame on me. Oh well, it makes for a great November post. November is National Adoption Month, so to commemorate adoption and Adjoa's family, I'll share these pictures.

Adjoa wanted to draw a picture for her uncle (birth-father's brother) and her aunt (birth-mother's sister) and send them to "Ah-free-cuh" Once they were drawn, it also became necessary to paint them in a really colorful manner. Because when something is really super colorful, it's always better.

Here's the picture she drew for her aunt.

Her aunt in making fu-fu. It was very important to make sure her aunt had shoes - critical, actually. She also wrote {with a little help from me} I LOVE YOU! It was also necessary to draw "lots of houses on the street". "Lots" turned into just two. There is also a chicken - can you see it? It's in the red blob area.

Anyway. the chicken is also very important. Adjoa told me a story about the chicken as she was drawing it. Once, it bit her finger and she cried and cried. But her uncle was there and he held her and gave her hugs and it was all better. That's pretty much exactly how the story went. lol. Sometimes it amazes me that she remembers some things. I hope she always remembers, even though I know it's not really possible. I just hope one day, when she returns to Ghana, she will feel at home there and love it the way I do.

Here's her uncle's picture. She drew herself in this one. His house was there and she felt it was necessary to make sure there was a door so he could go inside. She also wanted to include the big truck that he drives - complete with the exhaust pipe that she assured me is where the beep-beep noise comes from. She insisted that it wouldn't be able to make the noise if she didn't draw it. Funny girl. This on says I LIKE TO GIVE YOU HUGS. I'm pretty sure she wanted to say that because of the chicken story.


They are pretty cute pictures and I was so proud of her for what she remembered and that she was thinking of them. She is so sweet and she really loves her family still in Ghana.

So You Think You Can Dance? Shoot. Adjoa KNOWS She Can

One of my fav shows is SYTYCD I've watched it religiously for years. And I have to admit sometimes I miss the days when people messed up, or fell, or forgot the dance. The dancer's caliber is so much higher now than in years passed, a major screw up hasn't happened forever.

Of course, it's also getting harder to wow everyone when all the routines are great.

Even though it's one of my favorites, I haven't blogged about it recently like I used to. Mostly because we have Adjoa now, so it cuts into my blogging, but also because instead of blogging about the routines, I have to watch them a second time. I get too caught up in watching Adjoa.

I had some terrific vids from Season 5, but they were lost in the great Memory Card Erasure at the end of the Hawaii trip this summer.

I'll post a few vids from the fall season so far.

Warning, this might only be cute and adorable and funny to mommy and grandparents.

Happy Anniversary!

Happy Anniversary!

I get a kick out of this picture every time I see it. lol.

I think it's pretty clear who gets in trouble all the time. Not that he cares. I'm pretty sure he loves to rile me up.

It's a Good Thing Kids are so Cute... and that they know when you've reached your limit and they turn on the charm and melt your heart

After just over 2 hours of trying to get Adjoa to go to bed - I was at the end of my rope.

There had been lots of crying and lots of insisting "But I'm not tired!" and lots of ignoring, cajoling, begging, promising, bribing, threatening, etc. on our part. lol.

So. just over 2 hours into it, I'm in her room gritting my teeth, asking her to pretty please go to sleep.

"I'm not tired." She insists simply.

"Adjoa, it's WAY passed your bed time. It's soooo late. You need to go to sleep."

"I'm not tired."

"Ok. Just lay there then. You don't have to sleep, just lay there and relax."

"I don't want to relax."

"Fine. But no playing. No singing. No talking. Everyone else is tired and trying to sleep. You need to be quiet."

"I will sit. I'm not tired. I don't want to lay. I don't want to relax."

"Sit. Just don't make any noise."

About 5 minutes later, I'm amazed that she is actually being quiet finally. I peek in her room to see this:


I think she fell asleep sitting up - probably seconds after I left her room. Her bum was sticking up in the air so far I started laughing out loud. I couldn't really get a good angle to show the height - but you get the idea.

I straightened her body out, covered her up, tucked her in, kissed her, and by then I had forgotten all about how frustrated I had been with this stubborn child who 'was not tired'.