Where does the time go????

Wow. I blinked and two and a half weeks went by!

Well, not exactly, but you know what I mean! Of course, the past two weeks have been crazy busy, but aren't they all? What did I do? I worked, cleaned, washed, folded, cooked, organized, shopped, called, emailed, medicated and all the other usual stuff. I also drove 6 hours (each way) to visit my cousin because we're working on a project. I can't discuss it yet because it's still ultra-top-secret but we think it will lead to our early retirement if we do this correctly!!! Yes, maybe that's a little wishful thinking, but we do think we're on to something. When I visited her in February, we watched the video for The Secret and decided to implement some of that thinking in our lives. Both of us are very positive people and have overcome a lot to get where we are today, so it's not a huge adjustment for us. Maybe I'll post my thoughts about that later. Anyway, after I got back home, I got sick and I'm only now feeling better.

I also took CutiePie to a flower show, which I thought he would enjoy. I've taken HandsomeBoy the past two years and he had a good time. CutiePie was really only interested in the guy playing guitar in one of the exhibits. Oh, and also he liked checking out the garden tools vendor booths. Yep - nothing like a five year old with a shovel in his hand to strike fear in the hearts of mothers everywhere! We ran into one vendor from Russia who was selling beautiful crystal vases. I tried to get CutiePie to listen to him, but he didn't care. Neither of my boys speaks any Russian anymore. CutiePie never did really speak much, due to his young age and also to his hearing problems when he lived in Russia; HandsomeBoy, however, was unbelievably conversant for his young age! Our translator told us that she'd never heard a child speak so well in all the years she'd been working with the orphanages! We tried to speak Russian at home as long as we could to help him retain some of it, but our Russian wasn't even as good as his! Very quickly, he started to use English to make himself understood! When we first got him, he would get very frustrated with our limited Russian vocabulary and would look at us with disdain when he had to repeat himself slowly while we rifled through our little Russian/English dictionary!

Times have certainly changed in the past two and a half years! I just met with HandsomeBoy's Kindergarten teacher for our second conference and we are both very pleased with his progress. He's doing great in everything except the written language and even in that, he's not doing too badly! His progress is astounding! Both boys have been going to the same daycare since January 2005; HandsomeBoy got to stay this year because they offer a licensed Kindergarten in addition to the day care. Next year, both HandsomeBoy and CutiePie will go to the Elementary School across the street - HandsomeBoy in first grade and CutiePie in the Kindergarten. They are so excited about going to the "Big Boy School" as they call it! I'm pretty excited myself!

I love the changes that happen daily in the boys! I can't believe how much they've grown since we met them! Last night, as he was getting ready to sleep, HandsomeBoy started telling me all about the Solar System, including how Pluto used to be a planet but isn't anymore. How cool is that? CutiePie surprised me the other night when we were watching Dancing With the Stars -- when Billy Ray Cyrus came on, he jumped up, pointed at the screen and shouted, "Look Mommy - Hannah Montana's Daddy!!!!!!!!" Silly me, I said, "No, sweetie, that's Billy Ray Cyrus. He's a singer." Moments later, I was corrected as the announcer mentioned that he IS Hannah Montana's dad. Nothing like being outdone in pop culture quiz by your five year old!!!

In other news, I'm just happy that it's spring! My crocuses are up and I saw some daffodils yesterday near my office. Even though it's not that far away, due to the strange effects of the river and the city and such, the flowers always seem to be about a week ahead there.

That's all for now. I'm going to rededicate myself to posting more often and on more interesting stuff.