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.