Did I just hear something break?

Seriously life can be interesting....OK well for me life is ALWAYS interesting. The latest tragedy in our family saga is the destruction of my beloved camera! :`( Yes...I am shedding a tear for it. Somehow during last nights festivities (last night being Halloween) the screen broke. I think Lewis secretly applied a ninja move or the Vulcan death grip on the poor thing and broke it so he would not have to have any more pics taken of him. He was holding the camera and swears that he was gentle the whole time. I was able to get pics of the kids in their costumes and pics of our pumpkin carvings...so I guess I can live for a bit without pics from my fav. point and shoot. I think I secretly love the camera because of Ashton Kutcher....sorry can't help it. ;) So here is the last pic from my beloved camera....and the evidence that the "guilty" party was not happy about having his pic taken. Sigh* He didn't think about the backup dinosaur camera....gotta love a prepared wife! ;)

American as Apple Pie ;)

Here are our new family pics...Which only took us about three months to get back. Don't ask. We didn't have the brilliant idea of having pics with all our exchange kids until after some had started leaving :( So since then we have been trying to get them done when they come and visit us again. (The ones we missed) Here is our family pic with Niklas. He was our first exchange student. He was with us when Wes was four and Ryann wasn't here yet. He is still part of our family, and we love seeing him when we can.

This fun pic is all of the grandkids walking down the lane.

Here is my favorite one Grandma Barbara with all her great grandkids.

Ryann loves looking at "her" cows in Grandpa's corral.

Hot Pink Disaster

OMG....I can't leave this child alone for a millisecond. Wesley and I were discussing what to have for lunch and while that was going on, a very quiet Ryann was "playing" in Wes' room. Yup...you guessed it. I went to work on lunch only to hear Wes scream..."You're not gonna like this" He was chasing Ryann and trying to keep her from touching any and all surfaces in our house. I HATE arts and crafts supplies!!!!!!!!!!!! I swear I have an eye twitch from her and when they deem my officially crazy you all will know why!!! I couldn't see having any other kid, but I really would like to renegotiate that parent's curse.....I think they were a little too harsh on me! I wasn't THAT bad! ;) I am tremendous fear of what her teenage years are going to be like....hopefully she will have all this worked out by then...or else Lewis and I have been watching a program called Beyond Scared Straight...it will be that or the Nuns (that is what my mom scared me with and I am not even Catholic!)

One the other hand this is what Wes does when I sleep and leave the camera unattended :P I have two different kids. 

 Best duck lips ever! :)

Is that a Black Eye??

I left Ryann with Lewis for approx. 10 min. the other day and pulled back into the driveway to this.

I was freaked out because at first it looked like she had a black eye. Nope. She just managed to do what she does best...find dirt. Lewis said she had been throwing it over her head and had gotten some in her eye. She obviously rubbed her eye to take care of that problem. :) My water company loves her, and the soap and shampoo industry have been doing wonderful. Thank You Ryann for supporting such noble causes at this tender age.

Back to the Grind Stone

School is back in session. This year is very different. I miss Wes a ton and I am not spending these next few months trying to figure out if the foreign student living with me likes me or not. Kinda weird. Ryann and I are hanging out and trying real hard to not drive each other insane. :) I did have a brief shining moment today when a young man from Estonia showed up on my door step. He spoke of his funny accent, which I told him it wasn't all that funny for our household. We talked about my kids and where they have all been from. Then he tried to sell me some books. I hate salespeople :( So sadly my visit was cut short. Life is different. Wes is liking his teacher and class. I cannot believe that he is almost double digits...He just turned nine, but time seems to be in hyperdrive I might just miss that milestone.

Intro....

I have found after three years of hosting foreign exchange students, I still love the experience. These kids come here to find out what life is really like in America, and I learn so much about what a big world we really live in.

It all started with Niklas from Germany...He came into our life and home in October of 2006. He started the whole thing for us. We had a four year old, never had dealt with a teenager, and had no idea that we would end up loving him like a child of our own. The bonding that can happen is amazing.

People thought we were crazy...we got many comments...such as, "How can you invite a complete stranger into your home?", or "Are you carzy?", and my favorite, "What if they are horrible, rotten, brats?" And like anything else I have done in my life.....I completely ignored all given advice and plunged in with both feet.

We had an amazing year and decided to host again. She was from Russia. I was nervous about having a hormonal girl, but Nadya was the sweetest and caring young lady that we enjoyed in our family. We also hosted Hezha from Iraq during this same year. He was more challenging, but he also touched our hearts and opened our eyes to the differences in our two cultures.

We also realized that two teenagers was WAY too much for our family and skill level at handling teenage problems.

Now to the current year, Klara is our student from the Czech Republic. She is halfway through her year here. We are to the point where she is becoming a part of our family, and we are really getting to know one another. She has grown so much in the five months that she has been with us. It always makes me chuckle... thinking how much I affect their perception of life in America. I just pray that it is a good way in the end.

My life will never be the same after meeting such unique and wonderful kids. They have made their own individual impact on me, my husband and my children. We have found that sharing our home to these kids has opened a huge world up for us. I have found that I love these kids and wouldn't change my moments with them for anything. To me they are my family, even if they only get one school year with us.

Nadya was our pick for year number two.