Day 2

So we went to Target today to restock the kitchen with apples and bananas.  The kids had eaten about 28 apples and a big bag of Costco bananas in the first 24 hours that they had been here.  It was pretty exciting to fill the bags with as many apples and different types of apples, as they could.  It took me only showing them once to put the apples in the plastic bags for them to put a little of everything in the plastic bags, including a coconut and carrots.  It was fun to watch them look at all the fruit and pick the things they liked out, they seemed to agree on most things.  Marina was getting after the other two all the time in the store, especially when I had them put back half of the candy they picked out and they didn't want to.  But we hadn't even gotten to the chocolate yet!  I knew they would want some of that, so they settled for a large jaw breaker (I still don't get those) and a LARGE gummy dinosaur.  And some how they all agreed on a bag of snickers.  They would point out coca-cola when ever they saw it and Red Bull.  Wouldn't have guessed that one.  Anya would do some crazy animal dance whenever we saw the Red Bull, pretty silly.

The boys went nuts in the the shoes!  My sister would have been envious.  They tried on every pair of shoes they could.  Who knew?  The girls wanted dress shoes, but that is what they wore over here, we needed to get them some shoes they could horse back ride in tomorrow.  It took a little convincing until they found gold/copper colored tennis shoes.  

Lori and Nick came shopping with us and then we went to their place to go SWIMMING.  Awesome.  The kids loved it.  Ivan did all of his tricks on the diving board.  Front and back flips and dives and then he headed to the top of the slide.  Amazing or crazy, I just kept saying be careful and he would smile and tell the kids to get out of the way.

Marina on the slide.
Anya riding Morgan's bike down to swim and sporting her new tennis shoes.

Ivan relaxing.

Anya on the slide.
Ivan doing a back flip.

Anya and Bohdan floating.  Bohdan and Lori came over for part of the afternoon.

Nick dunking and swinging on the rim, so everyone else had to try it.  Even my kids.  Yep, we had to go back to Lori's and swim again after my kids got home from school and piano lessons.  Little bit of jealousy going on.  In  fact Morgan kept telling me to quit taking pictures of everyone else so I could watch her swim.  Boy, am I in trouble!

Morgan on the rim.

Anya on the rim.

Grant jumping off the slide.  If Ivan and Nick could do it so could he!  A little peer pressure can be good at times.

Marina hanging out with Lori and I under the warmth of the beach towels.  It got cold without the sun out shining down on us.  But a great day!  Thanks O'Tooles!

First day in the US

It was a busy Sunday--the first full day in the US for Marina, Ivan and Anna.  The Keller property (and that of some of our neighbors) was thoroughly explored, with the most popular items  of interest being the sports court, the bicycles, the neighbors' trampoline (thanks Castanevas!), Percy and video games.   Below are some snapshots throughout the day.

Grant, Ivan, Anna and Morgan on the swing.
Craft time.
Anna has learned middle C, D and E.  She plays them melodically (and repeatedly) and announces each note in English as she plays them.  Quite impressive.
Washing the dog was a highlight of the day.
All the Ukraine kids and their host families met at a chapel in Salt Lake for ice cream and some foundation business.  There was a "reading of the rules" in Ukraine by one of the chaperones that came with the kids.  Think along the lines of camp rules (e.g., buddy system, try new foods), and you'll get the picture.  

The couple behind the kids are our neighbors Shane and Lori O'Toole.  They are hosting Nick (blue shirt) who comes from the same orphanage as the children staying with us.  His sister was supposed to have accompanied him, but her paperwork fell apart at the very last minute.  Extremely sad!

They're Here!

Kellers waiting at the airport for the Ukraine children to arrive in Salt Lake City, Utah.  We look a little sleepy because it was 11 pm Saturday night.  Ethan did sleep in the car on the way over.
Welcome sign in Russian.
Kellers with the Shafaliuk children from the Ukraine.  These are the three children we are hosting for the next 16 days.  We are a pretty excited bunch, you just can't tell from the picture. 

The kids just walked off of a plane after 20 hours in airports and on planes to a strange family who doesn't speak their language.  Brave, brave children.  Behind Ethan is Ivan, In the middle is Anya and next to her is her older sister Marina.  Super cute, sweet children. 
This is us with Daniel who helped us interpret and talk the the children at the airport.  It was extremely helpful!  We really appreciated it.  Troy had him ask the children what they wanted to see while they were here and Marina told us she had heard they could see dinosaurs.  Something to add to our list.

Were heading home.  We got home and they had something to drink and then we took them on the tour of the house and showed them their rooms.  Then on the computer we asked them if they wanted to play or if they were tired.  Of course they wanted to play, it may have been 12:30 am Sunday morning here, but it's 9:30 am in the Ukraine.  Our kids always need an hour to play when ever we go somewhere new, no matter how late it is.  So we sent all the kids down to play.  Ivan loved the remote control cars and Anya played with Percy.  She would pretend that she was going to throw his toy and then she would hide it in her shirt and laugh and laugh while he look around bewildered.  It's now time to put everyone to bed.

Ukraine Fundraiser

If you click on the poster you should be able to see the entire thing.  We are hosting three children from an orphanage in the Ukraine for the next couple of weeks!  We are super excited for these kids to come.  There will be a Concert on Saturday, November 1, to raise money for the Save A Child foundation.  How much is raised determines how many children they can bring over next year.  Some of the children that come over are adopted every year.   It's a great cause and a great date night.  If you want tickets call the number or reply to this post.

Scenes from Sleepy Hallow

Wednesday was Show What You Know at school.  Ethan's class performed a bunch of Halloween songs and Morgan's class did a readers theater of Sleepy Hallow.  I caught the end of one song and the end of the play, I just wasn't in a good spot to get Morgan.  In the second half when you here the cricket/high pitched noise... that is Morgan she did the best cricket and was also being a bush on the ground trying to trip Icabod (I missed that too).

Dry Bones song 1st grade

I had to put this song on just for all the crazy movements the kids did, I was cracking up!  The boy in red is Ethan's buddy and the boy to the right of him in blue is Will.  He gets along really well with Will and they were hilarious or little stinkers in the performance.  Poking and pushing and banging each other with their elbows.  They just can't resist at that age.  The poor girl on the other side of Ethan kept telling him to stop, because Ethan was bumping her every time he swung away from Will.  Goofy kids.

Ethan's class singing the Orange Pumpkin Song