It's A Wonderful Life

It was a special Christmas in our house. Hope yours was, too!

A Needed Change

We had such a great time on our vacation, it was really hard to leave. Here are Matthew and Thomas enjoying a visit to the outdoor kiddie pool. We were a bunch of water bugs all week.

We took a road trip one day to the Eighth Air Force Museum in Savannah. Papa likes to get his history fix and we all enjoyed seeing some of the local attractions. The outlet mall was on route back, too!

We had an unplanned stop on the second leg of our flight home. There was a noticeable smell of something burning inside the plane and a slight smoky haze. The crew made a very quick emergency landing in Raleigh-Durham, NC. Thankfully, we landed safely and everyone did a pretty good job of keeping their cool - especially Thomas, who slept through the whole emergency landing. Matthew thought it was really neat that there were so many firetrucks stationed on the runway, and they followed our plane to the gate! This photo is of a soldier returning from Baghdad, who befriended the boys in the new airport. He gave them each a Kinderegg from Germany. They are chocolate eggs with a toy inside. We send him our good wishes on his wedding this week and will remember him, along with all our troops, this Thanksgiving.

We arrived home about 5 hours later than planned, due to the airplane situation. The boys were troopers through the whole thing, though. Despite a pretty late night for them, they got up and ready for school the next day without a problem. When I picked them up that afternoon, Thomas' teacher said he had had "his best day ever". I guess he really needed to get away. I guess we all did.

Vacation!

Well, we swore we would never fly with them again until they were 21. Never say never. We took off on our first family vacation together last Sunday to spend a week in Hilton Head, SC. Airline travel with Matthew and Thomas still presents some challenges, but the trip was nothing like the nightmarish flight from Kyiv last February. Using our frequent flyer miles and some promotional offers, we ended up flying first class on this trip. They've come a long way...8 months ago, the boys were eating gruel in an orphanage, and now they're flying first class to their timeshare. Ain't America great?!

Believe it or not, vacation seems to be working on the boys as well as us. Pre-K and Kindergarten must be more stressful than the coloring and graham crackers suggest. Their swimming has progressed visibly and they're calming down in restaurant situations and stores.

The week started with Uncle Tim, Joseph and Rosaleen joining us for a couple of days and the cousins got to know each other better and enjoyed their time in the pool. The four kids shared the second bedroom. Thomas, always the early riser, had his roommates up at about 4 a.m. As the week has moved on, we've been able to get him to sleep in to close to his normal 6 a.m. schedule.

We've been to the beach every day, although the ocean is too cold for swimming this time of year. Matthew brings the football along for a game of catch, and Thomas likes to go for a run on the beach.

We eat most of our meals at the condo, but treat ourselves by going out once in a while. Like most kids, the boys like "Old McDonald's" (they think the golden arches were named for the song), but anyplace that serves chicken nuggets, french fries and hot dogs gets the thumbs-up.

Trick or Treat

Hope everyone had a Happy Halloween!

We got together with our neighbors for a pre-Halloween Pumpkin-carving party. From left are Thomas, Matthew, Michael, Tyler, Ashley, Kelly and Connor.

Two little goblins pay our next-door neighbors a visit.

Superman and Tigger hooked up with their friends from our street for the trick-or-treating and the gang made a stop at our house.

Thomas loved being able to wear his costume to school.

Fall Back

There's lots of anticipation around our house, as we get ready for Halloween. Don't worry ... there will be another post coming with pictures, so I'll keep the boys' costumes a secret for now. It's interesting that Chris and I said very little to Matthew and Thomas about this very commercial holiday but, through their vast network of friends and relatives, they are totally up to speed with the whole thing. They're all over it, too.

We've been having a lot of fun this Fall hiking, apple-picking, jumping in the neighbor's pile of leaves. Both boys went on a field trip to a pumpkin patch earlier this month. Matthew and his buddies are under the tent awaiting cider and donuts. I went along as a chaperone ... for Thomas. There were a few other parents who had control of the rest of the kids.

Thomas is sitting on a hay bale in the above picture, with some of his classmates, as his teacher gets ready to take a picture. The field trip was a lot of fun ... the kids even got to ride a school bus!On Columbus Day, Mama and the boys took a road trip to Massachusetts. Here's Matthew and cousin Gregory on the hayride out to the pumpkin patch. Matthew is doing awesome in Kindergarten. His schoolwork is showing great progress and his has a very nice circle of friends. He's even learning Spanish. He is very interested in sports and is excited to be starting soccer this weekend.

Having been back from Ukraine about 8 months now, we are still very much in an adjustment period. The activity level in our house is staggering. Combine that with the fact that it's also really loud all the time. One resident (hint: MATTHEW) talks non-stop. Tonight, the boys were horsing around and Thomas ended up acidentally locking Matthew in their room. I have to admit it was tempting to leave things alone for a while, but he was still talking, anyway.

Back to School!

"It's the most wonderful time of the year ...!" Chris and I now fully appreciate that great Staples ad. We are very happy to say that both boys are now enrolled in St. Brigid's School. They go full-time, 5 days a week. Besides being a wonderful school, it is very convenient to our house and it's so much easier having the two of them in the same place. Matthew transitioned very well into Kindergarten. He was happy to see some of his friends from Pre-K who returned this year. He likes his teacher very much, and has confirmed that Kindergarten is definitely more challenging, academically. Over the Summer, Matthew has developed a real passion for baseball. He has attended one Red Sox game and two New Britain Rock Cats games, and loves getting out to a ballpark. When that's not possible, we play LOTS of baseball in our backyard, or wherever we happen to find ourselves. His catching and hitting have improved tremendously from all the practice, and he's anxious to get on a team in the Spring.


Thomas is in Pre-K 3 at St. Brigid's. His teacher says she has never had a student more enthusiastic about coming into school for the day. Thomas is a morning person and always comes through with a big greeting to start the day. His good spirits don't always last the entire day. The move to the big-boy school has been quite a leap for him and he's handling the transition as best he can. For one thing, it's a shorter nap time at the new school. What's up with that??

Other big news in our family was Thomas 4th birthday, the same week he started Pre-K. He had a great time, especially at his Winnie the Pooh party. You can see him blowing out his candles, with his friends looking on.

Blah, blah, blah

Last weekend was the 6-month mark of our return from Ukraine. It always surprises me these days when people ask me how the language is coming along with the boys. Since it seems like such a long time ago when that was an issue at all, I'm always tempted to say "that's the least of our problems!". In fact, it is much more of a challenge to just get a little peace and quiet. Matthew, in particular, never stops talking. I've heard from many of his classmates' parents that their kids are the same way, further reinforcing that Matthew and Thomas seem to be pretty typical 3 and 5 year-old boys. There are a couple of Ukrainian words, that Chris and I determine to be slang of some type, that Matthew is hanging on to. Otherwise, it's hard to even remember a time when the boys didn't speak English.

Besides the language, the boys have come a long way in many areas over these past six months. Matthew is extremely outgoing and likes for there to be a lot of activity. Thomas seems to be growing up before our eyes. He's taken to saying "I can do it myself" a lot these days.

As the Summer winds down, we are all anxious for school to start again (ok, mostly Mama and Papa). This picture was taken at Wolcott Park today. It seemed like a nice little Kodak moment until a few seconds later when Thomas started beating Matthew on the head. A sign it was time to head home.

Birthday Season

Above is a glamor shot of Thomas taken the other day. It's for his teacher at St. Brigid School. Thomas is registered in preK-3, and we are hopeful it will be a positive experience.

The boys are at lower left. This was taken at the birthday party for Uncle TIm. Like McGarret - he is now Five Oh.

Here are the boys sitting on the steps from our driveway. It's almost like an album cover.

Well Birthday Season in the Kelly family is in full swing. Today Papa took another step toward middle age. Uncle Tim got there this past week, and Aunt Kate completes another circle around the sun on the 21st. Meanwhile cousin Jessica turned 18 on 8/6, Uncle michael (McGuire) has a birthday tomorrow, and little Thomas will turn 4 on 9/5 - just a couple of weeks away.



For Papa's birthday, Matthew decided to go pee pee around the bathroom (on purpose) and Thomas took to rapid fire spitting through dinner - they've come so far in the six months we've been home. While this put a damper on my mood, who can cast the first stone?



After dinner, we headed over to Dave & Kim Gleason's house. The Gleasons are moving to San Antonio, TX tomorrow. Texas evokes thoughts like "Remember the Alamo!" "All My Exes live in Texas" and "The problem with Texas is that it's full of Texans". There, the Gleasons can make a difference. They've got a little driving ahead of them, but they didn't seem to mind the interruption. Best wishes and safe travel to the Gleasons.

8-8-08

Since this is such a significant date on the calendar, it seemed like a good time for a post. The Summer is moving along and the days have been filled with lots of activity for Matthew and Thomas. There is typically some type of event every weekend. We were so happy to have cousins Tom & Joan visit us in late July. Frequent posters to Kelly World, we're so glad to have a photo of them to finally put up on the blog. Tom had plenty of opportunity during the weekend to brush up on his baseball skills, thanks to Matthew. The visit wasn't quite long enough, however, for Matthew to be able to convert Tom into a Red Sox fan. Joan, shopper extrordinaire, took care of bringing the boys some really cool toys. Gina was with us for a few days, also, and it's always a treat to see her.

It's a Small World

Hey! I know you!

It was a mini-Khmelnytskyi reunion last weekend, when we hooked up with Gregory and his brother Eric at the Duffy School playground. Gregory was adopted from Ukraine around the same time as Matthew and Thomas. In fact, our paths just about crossed as their family arrived in Khmelnytskyi as we were leaving. In fact, Gregory was living in the same orphanage as they were, in Matthew's same group. They had gone through the same adoption agency we used and actually live practically in our neighborhood. All the boys enjoyed their playdate, but no Ukrainian was spoken among them.

We've actually gotten acquainted with 4 or 5 different families from various parts of the U.S. who have adopted children from the same orphanage either before or after we did. Through this blog and email, we've been able to share stories and experiences with some great people. We've been able to see pictures of Matthew and Thomas from before we knew them. We've also seen some of our pictures show up on other families' blogs (no, not the ones with the boots and fur coats!).

The boys are thoroughly enjoying their Summer. Both go to Joni's Preschool and Childcare the three days a week Mama goes to work. This week, they started swimming lessons at a nearby indoor pool. Thomas clearly has no fear of the water and was not satisfied to sit on the edge of the pool kicking his feet. After the first time he jumped in, Mama spent the rest of the lesson hovering next to the pool in street clothes, in case any additional life-saving assistance was needed. Matthew did great and is very much looking forward to next week's lesson. We will probably be exploring other options for Thomas ...

Fly Boy

Matthew gives the all clear for take-off, co-piloting this helicopter.
He was among the youngest visitors to last weekend's air show, but kept up with the grown-ups just fine.

Happy Birthday, America!

Thomas and Aunt Patty check out the camels at the Roger Williams Park Zoo in Providence, RI. It was a fun road trip!
Matthew and Thomas, with cousins Moira, Gregory, Kaitlin and Meghan, visit with a lady from the zoo and a baby wallabee.
After lots of bouncing at Jump Zone, the boys enjoyed ice cream at neighbor Kelly Guberman's 4th birthday party.

From Matthew and Thomas, two proud Americans, a very HAPPY 4TH OF JULY!!!

Summer's Coming!

Sorry that the posts have been slow in coming. In addition to not having a lot of leisure time anymore, there have been some technical difficulties making it hard to post pictures.
Matthew and Thomas are doing great. They both love school and have made many friends. Having been home just over 3 months, it's amazing all they have learned. They figured out pretty early on that it was useless trying to communicate with Mama and Papa in Ukrainian, so they have been picking up English very quickly. In fact, they even speak English to each other. Since Thomas is so young and his language skills were not as fully developed, he seems to really be taking off with his English. We can't help but be taken aback when he says things like "Look at that, over there" or "You found it!". When we were leaving a party a couple of weekends ago, Matthew said to one of the other guests, "Nice to meet you."

The boys thoroughly enjoyed the Memorial Day holiday and Matthew keeps talking about how he will be marching in a parade one day soon and will be sure to throw lots of candy our way. Other big news in our house is that Mama returned to work this week, part-time. After 16 weeks of family leave, it felt good to get back to a bit of my former life. It's great seeing all my friends and colleagues at Aetna again, too.

Cinco de Mayo

Matthew and Thomas enjoying a little Mexican fiesta. You should have heard the two Ukrainians correcting each other on the proper way to pronounce "quesadilla".

Many of our friends have inquired about how the four-legged members of the family have adjusted to life with the two boys. Do they look terribly stressed out? Other than an occasional cameo appearance, the cats prefer to keep some distance from Matthew and Thomas.

Matthew hasn't let numerous spills discourage him from riding, but he would probably benefit from more protective gear. If only we could find some leathers in a size 5T.

Fun at the Fire Department

Happy May Day everyone...workers of the world unite!!! It's an eastern Europe (and some colleges) thing. A few weeks back, the boys took a field trip to the Middletown Fire Dept. There, they were greeted by Firefighter Steven Beeler and given a tour and souvenirs. Thomas fell from a truck and later hit his head on a pipe fitting. Matthew just wanted to take the trucks. Both boys want to be firefighters and love to see fire trucks.


Firefighter Steve and the boys in front of their truck.

Matthew and thomas attempting to commandeer the tower truck.

Thomas wishes this rig had adjustable pedals.

The boys and firefighter Steve. Yes ladies, firefighter Steve is available!

THAT'S ALL FOLKS...for now

Swing Time

If you've been in our neighborhood lately, you've noticed a new structure has been erected. Just in time for Spring vacation, we have a beautiful new swing set in the backyard. No, it's not the crew from Extreme Home Makeovers. Our family pitched in to get the project wrapped up in a weekend.

Kaitlin and Matthew break for ice cream during construction.

Finished! Just in time for cousin Gina's arrival on Sunday afternoon. She spent a few days of her Spring vacation with us and was a great help with the boys.

Matthew likes a good push, so he can get some altitude.

Hope everyone is enjoying this great weather. Come back soon, Gina. We miss you!