(Maureen's Post)
Well, it's definitely been a while since we've last posted on this blog! So much has happened that I'm not even sure where to start! To simplify things, I'll just backtrack to where we last left off and where we are now.
Spring of 2009 was great, with lots of travelling for our little family of three. In March 2009 we drove up to Grapevine, TX for A Day Out with Thomas. James was super excited to ride in the train with Thomas the Tank Engine in the front. He still talks about it, so we'll probably have to go back and do that again. In April 2009 we went to San Antonio, TX to visit my sister and go to Wiggles World at Six Flags Fiesta Texas in San Antonio. James got to take pictures with some of the Wiggles characters - Captain Feathersword, Dorothy the Dinosaur, Wags the Dog, and Henry the Octopus.
Summer of 2009 was hot, of course, and included lots of swimming in the backyard pool. Interestingly, every year James seems a little shy and cautious at the beginning of summer when he first gets into the pool, but in a matter of days he's wanting to get in the pool all the time. He also started the summer camp program at his preschool, which he really enjoyed. It was also during this summer that he decided that he didn't need to be in diapers anymore, and a couple of weeks after his third birthday he was completely potty trained (I'm sure seeing his friends using the potty at school also contributed to that). At this time James finally moved out of the "baby room" at home and into his "big boy room," complete with a vehicle and transportation theme. He loves anything with an engine on it - cars, trucks, trains, airplanes, construction equipment, you name it! The summer ended with the three of us attending a Wiggles Live concert at the Hobby Center in downtown Houston. James really enjoyed it but didn't dance around and sing like I thought he would. If anything, he was pretty much starstruck, as we were sitting not too far from the stage and he could see all the Wiggles up close in person, especially when they would come down and walk the aisles.
Fall 2009 began with my baby boy starting the Pre-K 3 program at Silverline Montessori. I couldn't believe it was time for him to start school! My goodness, he grew up fast! He's in a great class with great teachers. We were told that James is actually one of the top students in his class, and it's not unusual for him to complete his classwork faster than the other children. However, sometimes that would give him time to start looking for things to get into. So, the teachers have been working with him one-on-one on his handwriting once he finishes his work so that he doesn't get bored and into something he shouldn't. It has worked out well! He's also involved in a couple of extracirricular activities. One is Tumblebus, which is a weekly tumbling class that in held in a converted school bus. The other is Sports Fun, which is a weekly class that introduces the children to different sports. He's now been exposed to baseball, basketball, football, soccer, and golf. So far, his favorite sport is soccer, so we may be looking into signing him up for some kind of pee-wee league.
This past fall we also took a trip to Hawaii to visit friends and family. James enjoyed our trip on the island of Oahu very much, except the waves on Waimanalo Beach where we were staying (windward side) were a little too strong for his tastes. He enjoyed the gentle waves in Ko'Olina (leeward side) much more. We also had a great time visiting with another adoptive Kaz family, who coincidentally also adopted their son from Kokshetau about a month before we arrived in Kokshetau to adopt James.
Halloween was lots of fun with James dressing up as Buzz Lightyear this year. As usual, James and Daddy were out for quite a while trick or treating, gathering as much loot as possible. Don't worry - I did not let James eat all of his candy! In early November, we again attended Turkic Fest which was held in front of Houston City Hall. Kazakhstan was once of the countries highlighted at the festival, and it was cool to see that the exhibit was in an actual yurt this year. Thanksgiving soon followed with all of our immediate family on both sides in attendance. Sean comes from a family of six boys so it was a large gathering! December followed with James being sick for a good part of it. Fortunately, he was able to make a full recovery in time to participate in his first Christmas program at school. His class sang two songs, "There's Someone in the Chimney" and "Santa Claus is Coming to Town."
It was a fun football season for the University of Houston Cougars, and we got to take James to watch them play at the Ft. Worth Bowl against Air Force. It was cold, but lots of fun, despite the fact that we did not win. James did enjoy going to the games this past football season, and it will be fun to take him when the Coogs play again next season.
Spring of 2010 was very eventful, with James attending numerous birthday parties, and we also had another wonderful Family Day celebration in February. I can't believe it's already been three years since James joined our family! James also participated in his first rodeo this spring. This was the first year he got to dress up at school for Go Texan Day, and he enjoyed the kiddie activities at the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo, including pony rides, a petting zoo, and even a cow-milking demonstration!
Back in November 2009 our agency informed us that things were starting to move along in Kazakhstan, and we were asked to pepare our dossier (again) ASAP for submission to the Kazakhstan Consulate in NYC. We had aleady submitted our dossier to our agency in spring 2009, but we had to re-do everything so the documents would have "fresher" dates. Our target date to have the updated dossier sent to our agency was late December for translation and submission to NYC in January 2010. So we had to take what first took us about 4 to 5 months to complete and finish it in 4 to 5 weeks. No pressure there (not)! We completed and sent it to our agency the Monday after Christmas. It then got translated, submitted to NYC, then finally forwarded to Kazakhstan by February 2010. We then learned that we were assigned to a region by late spring 2010, and today we were given travel dates for this summer!
This will be an exciting time for all 3 of us, as James will be coming back with us to Kazakhstan. We cannot wait until we return with the newest member of the Powers family so that we can recap our latest adventures. Stay tuned!
