It's been fifteen months, since the boys came home with us. This will be their second Christmas in the states and a lot has changed since the first one.
Jake continues to be the goofy child. Looking back on my first impression of him from this blog, his personality really hasn't changed. Here's what I originally wrote about what I called our little brute, "Jake is not fat, but is stocky. He apparently has a bottomless pit for a stomach and is always smiling. He's not as much of a climber as his brother, but can kick a ball nearly as far as Riley who is four years older. He's got the makings of a linebacker, I guess."
Jake has grown a lot in those fifteen months and is a lot leaner, but other than that - he's much the same. He's really good at soccer (he's a natural team player and plays position well) and is starting out in Upwards basketball with his first game after the start of the year. Jake's the tough one of the two and it won't be long before he's bigger and stronger than Riley. He's a video game nut (only on weekends), likes to play any board game, look at comic books, and play with his action figures. Interestingly, he's more of a strategist than his brother when it comes to playing games. It's fun to watch him think through his moves and he oftens wins in any strategy game we play.
Riley is also a lot like we originally perceived. "Riley is a bit short for his age, very lean but amazingly fast. He climbs like a monkey and seems to be very active." He's still fast as can be and lean. He's also a really good soccer player - in the spring he didn't seem to get the concept of team work and was more of a ball hog. This past fall, it clicked with him and he's ended the season as one of the best players on his team. Riley is also getting started in Upwards Basketball at our church. Riley is a big time movie fan and will watch about any movie you'll let him watch. He's also an avid reader, since he's got English figured out. He was also a surprisingly good reader in Ukrainian. Interestly, he can remember how to speak Russian somewhat, but can't read it all any longer, since learning the English alphabet.
Both boys are doing well in school and Riley recently took the ISTEP testing and he's right where he needs to be with his skills and his grades are very good. Jake is showing a huge interest in "learning" this year and is working on the alphabet and spelling. Riley has also joined Cub Scouts and we have been enjoying that time. The big event this fall was a fall campout in a fort on the Boy Scout property. We camped under a roof and had a tarp on one side and a wall on the other. Otherwise, we had only our sleeping bags to keep us warm in the nights. It was below freezing both nights. Pam and Jake were thinking about going to the campout until she heard there wasn't any running water or bathrooms!
I'm still working for Verizon and as always, this time of year is more hectic for my group than any other. And for four years running (or is it five?), we are short handed for the holidays. Our center got hit by some downsizing, so I guess I shouldn't be complaining. I live for the weekends so I can spend more time with the boys. We play games, watch cartoons, throw around the football, go on scouting activities and spend lots of time at practices and games. One of my favorite things with the boys is their questions. While they often have oddball questions (who would win between a power ranger and a jedi knight? That was actually a good question), they also ask some pretty interesting ones. We've been doing a lot of talking about astronomy, reading books and looking at pictures on the internet about the universe, the solar system, the moon, etc.. All in all, life is good.
Pam keeps busy taking care of our family and trying to keep up with our hectic schedules. She takes Jake to kindergarten every day at 12:30 and is happy to have some time to get things done in the afternoons. She volunteers at the boy's school and is the room "mom" for Riley's class. She is busy planning the Christmas Party for his class next week. She is still doing some computer consulting work for two businesses and has recently started working with a realtor creating web sites and virtual tours of the realtor's listings. She also likes to work on her scrapbooking when she can and attends "scrapbooking night" once a month at our church. And of course, she still spoils our dog Sasha!
Here's a link to some new pictures: http://mysite.verizon.net/res08a93/rayandpam/id38.html
Hope you all have a great Holiday Season and a Happy New Year! Ray
