SCHOOL'S OUT (AT LEAST FOR A WEEK)!!!!

Is anyone else SO HAPPY school's out? I am exhausted. Remember, I am an older mom, and the last week's of school have WORN ME OUT!

Thursday, we had track and field day.

Friday started out with a KickBall Tournament(the height of excitement)

Yulia's 5th grade class tied for 1st place! Basically, the teachers and coaches got tired of the kid's continual tying up the game and called a truce.

After the big win(uh, tie), we celebrated with the end of school party. Yulia's WONDERFUL teacher is at the very back. Yulia is up front on the right with an attitude.

Although Yulia made the "A" honor roll and graduated from 5th grade, we've made the decision to repeat the 5th. While she's done very well, she still has a lot of trouble with basic reading, writing and math. She's going to summer school 4 days a week. In the fall, she'll go to the school where she should have been attending all along. It's closer and she'll be able to ride the bus. And the fact that it's a new school is exciting to her. Plus, she won't see the 4th graders from her old school going into the 5th at her old school. She'll be in a new environment. Another plus, many of the girls at church who'll be in 5th next year go to the new school. It was a hard decision for us holding her back, but everyone who's adopted said repeating the 5th was the best thing they've ever done.

Now to more important things, Yulia has selected "High School Musical" for the theme of her 11th birthday coming up June 14th. It was a tough decision between HS Musical and Hannah Montana, but HSM won out. More to come on the big party, I'm sure.

Hannibal, Missouri

So, it's supposed to be almost 80 today, so we decide we'll head to Hannibal, MO, the home of Mark Twain. Paul and I put on our shorts and sandals. We laughed at Yulia when she put on long pants and a jacket. Well, she was right. The temperature didn't get above 58 on May 24, thank you very much, and we froze our Barry batoozkies off.

Still haven't figured out how to turn the pictures right side up.

In front of Huck Finn's house.

In front of Becky Thatcher's house.

Mark Twain's boyhood home is the white house on the right. Note the white picket fence that Tom and his friends painted.

I was driving on the way home. Got lost. Seems Paul Barry has gained such notoriety in these parts that they've named a town after him!

Pop's Birthday Week

Pop celebrated his Barry "birthday week" this past week.

One of the things he wanted was for us to help him with yardwork. Here's Yulia shoveling dirt while Pop drank a beer. Her treat was a ride back up the hill everytime they dumped a load of dirt!

MOTHER'S DAY

Had a great Mother's Day!

Colyn and Jon sent flowers. How sweet!

We miss them soooooo much. Colyn is coming for Father's Day. Jon is planning on coming sometime in June too. We can't wait to see them. Feels like it's been forever! Paul got to see Jon earlier this month. I haven't seen either of them since Christmas.

Sunday morning, Yulia and Pop made a wonderful breakfast before church. It was yummy. Since it was cold and rainy out, we spent most of the afternoon indoors.

Now that Mother's Day is over, all thoughts turn to Paul with his Birthday week well underway. He'll join Karen in the 48 year-old division Tuesday, May 13th.

SOCCER FINALS!!!

Yulia's soccer team had its last game of the season today and firmly secured their position in last place!


This is one of Yulia's teammates, a 13 year old who was adopted from Romania when she was 5. Yulia was lucky to get on a team with some really, really sweet girls.

After the awards ceremony!

Missouri Botanical Gardens

After the medal ceremony, we headed over to the botanical gardens.



We were about two weeks too late on the blooms, but it was still pretty!




Yes, Yulia is getting taller by the day!



We were only there a couple of hours when it started storming and we had to leave.

Hope everyone has a very Happy Mother's Day!

FIRST PARTY!

Yulia was invited to her first party over the weekend. Of course, she almost didn't make it. Her friend had called my cell the night before (Saturday) and I didn't even retrieve the messages until the next day after church. The friend spoke only with Yulia and they hung up. I started questioning Yulia and she said there was a birthday party for this friend that day. Didn't know for whom, at what time, where or any important information. So, being the ever vigilant mom I am, I called the friend back and found out, in fact, it was a going-away party for a girl moving to China, and it was going to be at 3:00 that day at the park.

So, since this was such a big deal to Yulia we made a quick stop by Target for a gift. Yulia didn't really understand why she was getting a gift until she got to the party. There was one slight problem. Of course, PB continued on his 2 week vacation and I had 10 people coming to my house later that day for a church "small" group. PLUS, I'VE NEVER LEFT HER WITH STRANGERS! So, I told Yulia, "I may not leave you at this party. You may only get to stay a few minutes and then we'll have to leave." Of course, she didn't understand why. But, when I got there and met the parents and Yulia's wonderful 5th grade teacher was there, I felt safe leaving her. When I picked her up an hour later, she was ready to leave, but had a good time. All 5th grade girls. No boys invited. Quite funny!

Yulia continues to talk about Russia, her family there and the orphanage. It's amazing the deep discussions we can now have since her speech is getting better. And, we're able to have these deep conversations without her getting the least bit emotional, which leads us to believe she's just testing us to make sure we still want her. Oh, what a tangled web is weaved inside this 10 year old's head! Lord, please help us untangle it.

Soccer ends this week and on our quest to try every activity known to man(although we have set the goal at only one activity a week), she'll begin hip hop, literal dance and jazz in Jun. Watch out Dancing with the Stars!

Hope everyone has a good week,