We Hope You Have a Ball!

Merry Christmas!

A Day at the Hair Salon

It's worse than Costco. At least it takes longer. After leaving Abegail's hair in for at least 8 weeks too long, I finally took her to get it redone at my favorite salon. Yes, I am the only person who brings her camera to the salon, but I get such a kick out of these women I had to remember it. These women were like a sweat shop today, a full house. One woman took 7 hours to get her hair

How was Work Mommy?

"How was school? How was soccer? We're you a good boy? Do you have homework? How was violin? How was lunch? How is Mrs. Archibald?"The questions go on and on every day at our house as I try and catch up on the kids days. Finally one day I said, "Hey, no one asked me how my day was?"Well it was one of the few things they got on the first time. Now I come home and I instantly have three, "

Happy Halloween

Teaching E-man

We (teacher, social worker, special ed teacher, a village, a team, anyone who wants to) are trying to teach E-man to read. My new life is that of a tutor, going over and over words and sounds. E-man does like when he gets it saying, "I'm brilliant." To which I always agree.There are always the convenient distractions. Last night he wanted hot cocoa, but it was too hot. Instead of blowing on

Two Championships today!

Sue's been bugging me a ton lately to post something on the blog...I gave up months ago trying to keep up w/ her regular postings. Well...today's my day! I'm as proud of A&E as I've ever been!!They had the Burke SoccerFest 4x4 tournament today and both kids WON CHAMPIONSHIPS!!Abegail scored 5 goals in the first two games and her team finished with a 3-1 record. They won their division and she

School, Soccer, and other Stuff

SCHOOLWe are well into the rhythm of school. Everyday E-man asks if we have school. "Why do we have to go everyday?" he'll say. Other days he'll announce, "I'm just not going to go today." He has a wonderful teacher and special teachers. They introduced them at the open house and I turned to my neighbor and said, otherwise known as Saints. E-man and I are spending lots of quality time

First Day of School

We have two first graders and a fourth grader this year. Annie and E-man are in different classes which will be good for both of them. They all had a great day, although E-man keeps asking why school has to be all day long.Quotes from the Kids:Abegail: I always get the best teachersAnnie: First grade is AWESOME!E-man: We did a lot of coloring.

Stealing A Blog

I have to do it, I have to steal this blog from my friend in Minnesota. It is too sweet not to share. This past weekend, Scott took the girls back to Minnesota so they could see their friends and he could see his Twins. (he saw a few friends too) Tori's mom decided to surprise her, so while Gretchen knew Abegail was coming to sleep over, Tori did not, here's the rest of the story.I surprised

Area Adventures

My sister and her husband have bought a restaurant. But before they can open it, they must renovate it. So we gave them a few hours without the kids the past few week-ends and set off on a couple adventures. Last weekend we headed to Luray Caverns about an hour and a half west of us and saw the caves.They give you headphones to explain the lakes that act as mirrors, the stalactites

E-man Goes To Pennsylvania

UPDATE FROM SCOTT: in journalism we call it "burying the lead"....E-MAN'S TEAM QUALIFIED FOR ThE NATIONAL TOURNEY AT ESPN'S WIDE WORLD OF SPORTS COMPLEX IN ORLANDO!! Ok Sue....go ahead. This was the weekend for E-man's team to go play in the Regional Championship in Pennsylvania. The weather was perfect. But the first game was an awakening storm. This is the Regional and the teams were

Day 3 of E-man's 3rd Surgery

E-man went to his pre-op physical with our pediatrician and she said from exactly this time last year, E-man has gained 14 pounds and grown three inches. She at first expressed concern about how much weight he has gained going from 48 pounds to 62 pounds in a year. Then she looked at him, "wow he is all muscle. Never mind what I said about the weight issue."Since this is E-man's third surgery

O-K-L-A-H-O-M-A

Grandma, Annie, and MaddieGrandpa and E-man building lego trucksWe took our annual summer trip to Oklahoma this past week. Only this time we added a friend of Abegail's who's sister now lives in Tulsa. So Scott and I trudged through the airport with our four kids, looking very much like leaders of a multicultural camp experience. No stare missed us. At check-in, the lady from Delta asked

The Boy Who Was Raised As A Dog

Sue read this book and read me a chapter that hit very close to home.It has helped us put everything we knew about Emmanuel into perspective. We encourage anyone who has to deal with him to read the chapter. It is amazing, the brain is 85 percent developed by age 3 and 90 percent developed by age 4, when E-man was just coming home to us.CLICK HERE to read this chapter.

E-man's Thank You's

After a full birthday party, it's time for Emmanuel to write Thank You's. But getting E-man to do this is probably more painful than banging your head against the wall. We did get one done last night and it went like this.Mommy: E-man, do you remember why we write Thank You's??E-man: Because you make us.M: No. Well yes, but we do it to show people how much we appreciate how thoughtful they

Three Years

Today is the three year anniversary of our arrival home with A&E. Scott and I were talking about it today and it seems neither of us can remember anything that happened before July 10th, 2007. Emmanuel is having his very own birthday party tomorrow, the first time without one with Annie. Some very nice boys are coming and even a soccer friend, here's a sneak peak at the cake.E-man decorated

Surprising Gift

Gift, who was like a big sister to Abegail and Emmanuel at the AFAA house in Liberia, happened to be with her family at a picnic at our neighborhood park. So her Mom and I arranged to surprise her. As we walked up her mom said, "do you know those children?" At first she said no, and then saw E-man. (who had just finished a big mad) Oh, E-man, Abegail! Abegail and Emmanuel were so much bigger

E-man's Soccer Tournament

E-man's soccer tournament was about an hour away out in Poolesville, Maryland on a farm with horses and lots of land which the girls loved. It was still hot, but games were only 20 minutes just the right length. E-man's team won all four games and now qualified for a regional championship in Lancaster, PA. The picture above was taken around 7:30 this morning when it was still cool and before

All Stars are Hot, Hot, Hot

Waiting for blue hair spray and soccer tattoos to get pumped up!And that doesn't mean they were on fire, it means it was 95 degrees and all the girls were dying from the heat. Saturday they lost both games but came out roaring to go and won 5-1 today. A great time with a great group of girls and of course some of our favorite coaches.Happy Father's DayGo Abegail Go!They had these balls

Abegail's All-Star Hair

Abegail got long braids in her hair. It just happened it was the week before All-Stars, which happens to be the last time we got her hair done. (Yes, I'm not good at keeping up with the hair thing) So we are calling it the All-Star tradition. The salon was a hoot again this time trying to put E-man in line, having him sweep hair off the floor. All the women are from Western Africa and they

VA Beach Weekend

Our first weekend in a long time with no soccer games, so we headed to Virginia Beach, about three hours south of us. We really lucked out on fabulous weather and had a great time. Now back to the soccer games, Abegail's All-Star tournament is this weekend followed by a tournament for E-man next weekend.We are in a cartwheel phase. I actually now have a rule, no random cartwheels, not in the

Girls On The Run

All the Schools Gathered at 6:30 A.M.Buddy RunnersDoesn't this look like your idea of a good time?Abegail, we are not stopping for picturesThe whole team from Ravensworth ElementaryAbegail with her coaches Ms. Sanchetti and Miss MeyersAbegail has been participating in Girls on the Run. It's a program through school that trains 3rd through 6th graders for a 5K race. But it focuses on a healthy

Thank You BOB!

Some of you may remember the Reed family. They worked in Liberia for years. Before we adopted we read their blog faithfully and could even keep up on the weather there. We happened to be on the same plane with them on our way to Monrovia when we went to get A&E. I just found out today Bob died of a staph infection. His family continues his and their work in Ghana. They have done so much

How 5 year old Girls Play Soccer

Each soccer team gets to pick their own name, Emmanuel's team is the "Terminators." Abegail's team is the "Funky Monkeys."Annie's team voted to be the "Golden Dolphins."And today they played the "Mermaids."These teams are appropriately named, most of the girls are swimming in their uniforms.There is no lack of parental passion on the sidelines just because the girls are 5 and closet princesses."

Behind the Scenes at The White House

I finally remembered to bring my camera to the White House, here are some photos, tourists from a distanceClose up of the briefing podium, much smaller than it looks on TVThe long view from camera postionReporter breakroomLooking out from the podium to cameras in backHallway to reporter workspaceIt's beautiful this time of yearStanding at entrance to media room looking at private residenceThe

Spring Soccer Season Underway

We had three great soccer games today!Soccer DadSoccer Siblings back togetherQuotes From Annie:A: I love being your kid.M: Thank goodness somebody does.

Confessions of a Soccer Mom

Hi my name is Sue and I am a Soccer MomAll together now: Hi Sue!Soccer is my life. I have now gotten all three of my kids into soccer on three different teams. I spend my weekends at soccer games. When I'm not at soccer games I feel the strong urge to wash a soccer uniform, look for lost shin guards, or clean mud off cleats.Soccer runs my life. I go to bed early on Friday nights so I'll be

Meet E-man's Soccer Coach

E-man's main man, Coach Kephern is starting his own soccer club, check out the team's website at http://www.jogasc.orgWhat is Joga SC? vid. This will explain what we are about:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IUsDg8uCRZQ

Let Me Say This....

I've been living in the world of politicians and Republican or Democrat there are three things they all say,1. Let me say this, 2. First, let me say, 3. Let me be clear.I also have the press release lingo down, POTUS: President of the U.S. FLOTHUS: First Lady of the U.S. VPOUS, Vice President of the U.S. SPOTH: Speaker of the House.I think Washington, DC would be a comedian's paradise. Look

Perfect 7

So far living in DC is great because people want to come see the sights. The Spronks did their tour of DC this week and we had a great week because we had great visitors. Saylah brought her parents and her three siblings to see us again. Saylah, in case you've forgotten, was a friend of A&E at the AFAA house. She is now 7. I told her 7 is a lucky number and her Dad told her 7 is also the

Daddy's Birthday

Annie decorated her own cake!All Together!Daddy will get to pick out a bike for his birthday, Abegail's idea, something we can all do together.Daddy's other cakeAnnie's picture for Daddy!Quotes from E-man:E: Mommy, I drew a picture of Africa. Here are the bullets, and this is the gun. And this is the people shooting, and this is me as a baby. I drew it for you.

No More Sitting on the Sidelines

Annie has had enough. She's been to more soccer practices and games in her lifetime than she'd care to remember. So she has finally decided she may as well play. I didn't think she was serious. But she kept bugging me, "make sure you sign me up for soccer after gymnastics, you need to get me a ball, I think I need those soccer shoes." So we have completed the registration and secured the

Family Game Night

This week is was game night Wii style. We've decided they should include curling in the Wii sports section, only instead of the broom we would use the Swifter wet jet. My office also houses CNBC which I have now dubbed CBC, continously broadcasting curling. The excitement and fascination in the office is amazing. Everyone has their own take on the sport comparing it to darts on ice,

Valentine's Day

With all the snow this week,(the kids are on their 7th snow day in a row tomorrow-it will be their 11th for the year) I was not in to Valentines Day. But I did get them some much needed toothbrushes (we tend to let them get hard) and Scott got them sugar candy. A perfect combination.Abegail and Annie switched hair for the day. Abegail gave Annie African braids complete with beads. I gave

Still Burried

The Blizzard of 2010

That's what the news stations are calling it in their around the clock coverage of our storm. Already 100-thousand people have lost power. I'm glad we haven't so I can bring you this blog.I am loving my job. I hope I always think its cool to go over the 14th Street bridge and see the capitol on one side and the Washington Monument on the other. I still think all the stories are exciting and

Abegail's Golden Birthday

"Mommy, it's my golden birthday.""It is? What does that mean?""I'm going to be 10 on the 10th!""Oh of course."Abegail had a good day. We went to an indoor water park for her party and then back to the house for pizza and cake. Lots of nice friends to help us celebrate (although we were thinking of the nice friends in MN) complete with flip flop cakes.Happy Birthday Abegail! Happy Birthday

Guerrilla Parenting

Wokelle, as cute as can be! He was just two when we saw him at the AFAA houseWho would of thought these Liberian boys would one day meet up to play DS games against one another?Adella is coolMary is tired but still coolJerome and his mini-me, BraydonRicky and his awesome MommyMary gets her second windLooks like Junior has some competition. Annie sure likes those Liberian boys or maybe they like

A Review of 2009

Here is our annual Family Video; 2009 style You can watch it here: http://vimeo.com/85844761-9-10 UPDATE: It should work now!! Untitled http://vimeo.com/8584476 Involves Sue Turner.