My week as a single mom...as Robert attends court in a thawed out country

Last week was a chance for me to see how I would do as a single mom...living in the country with eight children, along with dogs, cats, and tadpoles.

On Monday...well, actually Sunday night, we discovered that one of our tadpoles had become a frog.  The problem?  I decided that we would wait to release him until Monday morning.  Monday morning came and he was gone....loose in the house.  Oh where, oh where could our tiny frog be???  Ugh! 

Then, one of our hens got into the house when Eleanor opened the back door.  The problem?  We have dogs...and dogs that are incessantly teased by chickens that prance about on our front porch in front of glass doors and windows as if to say "neener, neener, neener, you can't catch me!"

Well, her choice to prance *inside* our house was not wise.  They rapidly descended on the poor hen and I froze at first not sure if they had already killed her.  There was a moment of stillness....Emily, myself, the dogs, and the hen.......all still and all quiet.  And, then, she began to move and we all flew into action...literally.  The chicken began to fly up, I lurched forward to grab two of the dogs and Emily grabbed the third.  Amelia opened the door and the hen was able to walk out of our house on her own.  Whew! 

I'm sure that this didn't help my back that has been giving me trouble.  I headed for the doctor just to be told that it was probably just a pulled muscle from carrying around nearly five year old twins and a stout little three year old.  Who would have thought?!? 

On Tuesday, we forgot to take the trash down to the curb.  Most people would imagine this to be a stressful occurance but for our family, this is a disaster! 

And, then I began to get pictures from my husband who was in the twin's country awaiting court.

WAIT!!!  Just a second!  Is this the same place where we nearly froze to death???

Yep!  Here was our first home with the twins....in all it's green glory!

Remember our view of the river that was near solid ice and snow?

Here is what it looks like now!!!!

Absolutely gorgeous and warm as could be!  I seriously couldn't believe it! 

Remember the peaceful still night in the snow with the ducks?

Look how happy they are now!  They were just far more patient than I was....they knew what was just around the corner!

Can you imagine how jealous I was when he began to send these pictures from his boat ride......

Our week was spent with bleary eyed and exhausted teenagers who studied and studied for finals and finished up the rest of their projects and papers that they had been procrastinating.  It was stressful for us all as I attempted to help proofread and help them study at the same time as keeping up the house, the smaller children, the grocery shopping, the cooking, the cleaning, the laundry, the hair that my dog is busy shedding all over everywhere (I do believe he sheds an entire dog every day!) all at the same time that my back was giving me grief! (Okay, I promise to stop whining! :-)

Oh, but he is so sooooo cute......look at my adorable hairy baby!

But, I digress....we ended the week well with a successful court date on the twin's birthday!!!!!

We took them to John's Incredible Pizza Company to celebrate....do you recall that we had a fundraiser there?  It was so fun to go this time *with* them!  I have such beautiful pictures of them...but it will have to wait just a tiny bit longer.  The second court date finalized their adoption but it becomes officially official twenty days after the court hearing.  At which point, we will truly and completely be a family and I can officially have pics of their faces right along with ours. :-) 

Until then, here is the best I can do:

I can't forget to mention the train ride that we went on....did I mention that my back was already hurting?

K. nor Eleanor was allowed to ride on the train without an adult.  Another down side of being a single mom....I not only had to ride the jolting and lurching train once...but twice. (Oooops, now I will officially stop whining!)

It was a truly wonderful evening!

And, the twins had so much fun!

Oh, and the hours just before Robert got home?

A baby bird fell out of his nest on our front porch.  We have two nests that are used every year under the eaves of our house.  We look forward to their arrival every spring to bring forth yet another family.  I don't know what they are but they are just bigger than a finch and are black with a white underbelly and a crest on their head that looks a bit like a mohawk.  I researched a little and they look kind of like an Eastern Towhee but they have no brown.  I'd love it if someone knew what they are!

My last moments as a single mom involved me throwing on some sweats and driving our little baby to a wildlife rescue....whew!  We made it!

So, in just 20 days...the twins will lawfully be a part of our family and we will have only one more trip for immigration into America.  Almost there!