Six Sneads: Since I so rarely post words...

Some people blog so they can share words, thoughts, ideas, opinions. I blog mostly so that people who want to see our kids grow and change can see it through pictures. I've never been much of a writer, have a hard time getting myself to just sit down and write. But tonight I'm home "alone". The boys are in bed, and Matt and the girls are gone for 2 nights. With such a quiet house, I thought I'd record some thoughts that are going through my mind.

1) We have too much stuff, WAY too much stuff! When we only had one child, I felt like we couldn't have enough toys to keep her busy. Kai came along, so then we had girl toys and baby gear. Then we decided to adopt, not one but 2 kids. We moved into our 1500 sq. ft. apartment with one child. We had 2 bedrooms in use, one guest bedroom, and a playroom. With Kai, we ditched the playroom and gave him a room. Now we have 2 girls and all of their "treasures" in one room, and 2 boys with a bed and a mattress in the other room, a VERY small room at that! We have 2 huge shelves of toys and "stuff" in the living room, now stuff even piled on top of the shelves. In the U.S. there's Goodwill. Here there is not. We have a trash can in the hallway. It gets picked through, so nothing goes to waste. I just wish we could find a sitter for a weekend and pile up huge loads of stuff to take to Goodwill. I'd take a sitter for the weekend, piles of stuff we don't use, and a long car ride dropping off bags of stuff on various street corners. Yes, we've done that before.

2) The boys room REALLY needs a makeover. Not a complete makeover, just new furniture. First, there's the cost. Do we really fork out the money when what we are doing is working even though it is not ideal? Just in case you don't realize how small and cramped the boys are in their room, this is it.

The only thing you can't see in the picture is the wall of closet/cabinet space. It's small. Really, really small! There are only about 8 inches between the boys beds (and Kai's isn't even as wide as a twin bed) and absolutely no space to play. I'd really like to move some of their "stuff" into their bedroom to make the living room less cluttered. Also, their dresser is in our bedroom as it doesn't fit in their bedroom. Kai ran into it yesterday. Not ideal either. I'd really like to get something like this Ikea bed with the bed tent. Keep Kai on the floor, and Tobey up high. He barely moves in his sleep so I'm not concerned that he'll fall. Eden doesn't really move either. I've wondered if it's because they slept several kids to a bed while in the orphanage?

3) I did Eden's hair today. Before Matt took the girls for 2 nights I figured I had better do something or else it would be a tangled mess when she got home. It was my first time to cornrow! I cornrowed the top, box braided the back. Turned out A-ok. She LOVED it and kept slinging her braids around while proclaiming, "My hair is so long!!!"

4) While doing Eden's hair the girls watched The Velveteen Rabbit. Eden cried. She was very upset by the people crying in the movie. Eight months home, and I hadn't realized how tender-hearted she is. I'm still learning so many things about her.

5) Here are the three as they were walking out the door.