Moving Along

We are slowly settling into a groove as a family of 5. Somethings have been much easier than anticipated and other things harder. We have decided to call our daughter Nasuuna upon her request. If you ask her what her name is she always answers with Nasuuna (pronounced Na-soon-a). We have not yet decided what will legally be her first name and what will be her middle, but we are calling her by Nasuuna. Apparently she was called this (and Knighty) in care. This has been a hard change for Geremu, he is still mostly calling her Kamusiime... She doesn't seem to mind and she does respond to him.

Nasuuna calls Cullen, Cullenie and me Momu (pronouced Mom-moo, similar to Geremu) everyone else she seems to have down.

One of the biggest "problems" between the kids has been a holiday tradition we have. You see, we adopted our first elf, Rootsy (light skin and brown hair) some time ago, when Cullen was young. Our second elf joined or family via adopted last year, Hider (darker skin and hair). Both of our boys have grown-up understanding the Elf rules that the book talks about and each boy is responsible for finding an elf each day. Cullen is a rule follower... He firmly believes that if an elf is touched they may start to lose their magic. If they lose their magic they wouldn't be able to return to Santa at night to report on the kids behaivor. I should also mention that we some how ended up with a Christmas Mouse, Gumdrop. Honestly, I can't remember how the mouse joined the group but apparently it plays by the same rules as the elf's. It is Santa's favorite mouse so feel quite honored to have him hanging around. The point of all of this is the Boys are true believers in the elf's powers.... Then along comes their sister... Let's just say Nasuuna is not so much a believer. In fact, she doesn't really know or understand the "rules" of the elf's and mouse. The first time Nasuuna grabbed an elf and was playing with it Cullen lost it. He was crying and yelling, I have never seen him so upset. I explained to Cullen that Nasuuna doesn't really know or understand that she is not allowed to touch the elf's.

Nasuuna has grabbed an elf and threw it across the room... Cullen believes he witnessed it fly... He never saw the toss. I had to practically tackle her to prevent her from picking it back up. I've learned my lesson and have been careful to put everything up high and out of Nasuuna's reach. I thought I was quite cleaver by hanging one on the ceiling fan in my bedroom. Nasuuna takes her naps in my room, she has little to no jumping skills. When Cullen went to wake her up she was sleeping with the elf. Houdini I tell ya. Cullen wrote Santa a note telling him about his sister and asked Santa to make sure he gives the elf's a little more extra magic just in case Nasuuna touches them.

Speaking of Santa, I took the kids to meet him. Cullen was so cute leading Nasuuna to him. The picture is awesome as her smile is as big as her face. Cullen said, "I told Santa I wanted a DS and so did Geremu. Nasuuna just looked at Santa and smiled. She didn't say anything. I don't think she wants anything from him."

Last night Santa came through the neighborhood behind a police car and fire truck. The kids could hear the sirens and Christmas music before he actually got to our street. We waited patiently for his arrival in the warm house. Below is the only picture Nick took without one or more of the kids faces/noses smashed against the window.

There was high-fiving and chest bumping when he finally turned to come down our street...

The kids each got a ziploc bag of candy treats. Since Nasuuna is a lover of sugar she is really starting to think this Santa character might be something special.