Heidi and I are extremely thankful for the three angels entrusted to our care. I can't wait to get home everyday from work to see them and hear about their day. Each always has a story to tell. All three, for quite awhile now, have become quite affectionate, as a family should. Kole told me the other night that I am a good daddy and that he is very happy to have a mom and dad.Kolya routinely comes up with an American colloquialism and cracks us up, too. Last Saturday, after working in the yard mowing grass, trimming the shrubs, and planting new flowers, he asked me to go to Chipotle. In his words, "We deserve it!". They all worked hard and yes they did deserve it. After I quit laughing, we got cleaned up and headed out for some burritos. Here's Kole posing, in typical Kolya style, below his artwork at the St. Vrain school district art show. His is the red scarf he knitted in art class at Rocky Mountain Elementary.
Julia had a piece at the art show, too. However, I decided to post this cute picture of her at last weeks 5th grade choir concert. Julia practiced for weeks and did a great job singing in both Spanish and English. An episode of "lost in translation" became apparent when the music teacher explained to the students that they would have a dress rehearsal the morning of the concert. I remember her heading off to the bus with a plastic bag, but elected to ignore it as usual Julia quirkiness. Well, she had wadded up that nice dress you see her wearing in said bag because, as her little mind deduced, she was off to her "Dress" rehearsal! An ironing job later that day was in order. Another great laugh!Julia continues to amaze us with her vocabulary. She is getting more confident and learning new words all the time. Her OT is paying off too and "things" are taking off for Julia! It s great to see her, and all of our children, blossom in their new family!
Nadia is a sweet young lady as she settles into teen-hood. She and I have grown quite close and she matter-of-factly tells us that she is a daddy's girl. I'm loving it and I hope it never stops, but I know that one day she will be too cool to hang on dad's arm. Oh well, they always come back around after the teen years are done, right? Nadia and Ashley's soccer team has advanced to the championship game. Nadia is ecstatic and talks about it with me all the time. She likes to kick the ball around the backyard with me, mom or Kolya to keep in practice. Here she is on Easter Sunday after she dyed her first two eggs. I told her that it matched her dress and she proceeded to make more colored eggs, except the white an black, of course. Since this picture, she talked me into letting her get her hair cut. You can see a picture of it on the Volf's blog. I haven't gotten around to snapping a recent picture of her yet. Sorry.There's one last youngster in the family to report on, Buddy. He's doing fine and fitting in well with the family. The kids are taking good care of him. So far, he's only chewed up a pair of Easter dress sandals that Julia left on the living room floor. They were promptly replaced with his tug-rope. How can you get mad at a face like that? Julia was able to salvage the shoes, albeit a bit mangled!
~Felix~
