Katia's Birthday Celebration, Part I

Hi, everyone! Today is my 11th birthday! My party is not until June 1st, but here is a little story about what I did today, on my actual birthday.

 
 Good morning! Today is my birthday! I am 11 years old!

 
 Would you like to help me pick what I'm wearing to my special birthday dinner tonight?

 
 I can't decide between these two outfits! Which one is your favorite?

 
 While I decide which outfit to wear, I have a few things to do.

 
Like work on invitations for my birthday party. My party is not until next weekend.
Today is a "family only" birthday celebration.

 
 Here are my invitations. I get to invite all of my friends!

 
After I finished my invitations, I decided to play with my LaLaLoopsy dolls for a little while.
I'm really hoping I get some new dolls for my birthday!

 
 Aren't they cute?

 
Now, it's time for my skating lesson. My coach says I get to pick what we work on today, since it's my birthday. I'm going to ask her if we can work on my layback spin!

So far, I'm having a great birthday! I will update soon with the rest of my celebration!

 <3 Katia <3

Sleepovers and Secrets

Hi, everyone! It's Katia, and last night I had a sleepover with my friends Remy and Liza. Wanna know what happened? Read on!


I was daydreaming about skating when my friends arrived for our slumber party. "Katia!" they called.


"Hey, what's up! I'll be down in a sec!"


So, I climbed down the ladder to see my friends.


"Hi, Remy! Hi, Liza! I'm so glad you could come over!" I said.

"Me too!" they answered, but Liza seemed a little less excited than I expected.

"Hmm," I thought, "Maybe she's just nervous about spending the night away from her new home for the first time."


We all changed into our pajamas and climbed into my bed.


We started the night off with some popcorn! I asked Remy and Liza to tell me what's been going on at their school, since we go to different private schools. They go to a school for performing arts, but my school is just a regular private school.

Remy started giggling like crazy, "You'll never beee-LIEVE it! Guess who asked for my phone number?!"

"Who?!" I asked.

"Peyton! He's the cutest boy in my class!" Remy squealed

"No way! Did you give it to him?" I asked.

"Of course!" Remy blushed a little.

The whole time, though, Liza was pretty quiet. I wondered what secret my friend had.


After we finished the popcorn, we moved on to play Barrel of Monkeys. Remy was being spacey, probably thinking about Peyton, so she wasn't playing very well. Usually, we play best out of 5 to see who wins. It's almost always Liza. She's so good at Barrel of Monkeys, but tonight she just didn't seem into it. Remy had another giggle fit, though, and knocked the posters off my wall, so we decided to quit playing for the night.


That's when we decided it was time for a chat with Liza.

"What's up with you, Lizonka? Are you homesick?" I asked her in Russian, using my pet name for her.

"Net, no," she answered, "I'm not homesick."

"What's wrong?" Remy asked gently.


"I guess I am homesick, but not for my American family," Liza said quietly. "I miss my friends and my cousin, Dasha, in Ukraine. I wonder every day if Dasha is okay at the orphanage, but I don't know how to find out."


"Hmm," Remy began, "Have you told your new family about your cousin? Maybe they can help you write to her."

"Yeah!" I agreed. "I'm sure they would help! Will you ask them?"


"I... I don't know..." Liza was about to cry, so Remy and I reached out to her.

"We'll go with you, if you want," I said, "Your new family is really nice, and they love you a lot. I'm sure they will want to help."

Remy nodded in agreement as Liza sighed.

"Yeah, okay. Will you really come with me?" she asked.


"Of course we will!" Remy and I said at the same time.

We hugged Liza close and just sat together for a few minutes. Then, my mom said it was time to go to sleep.


So, we all laid down to go to sleep...

Well, at least until my mom decided we were asleep and went to bed too!

Hope you enjoyed reading about our sleepover! What's your favorite thing to do at a sleepover? My friends and I love to play games and tell secrets!

I can't believe what just happened!

Hey, guys, it's Keesha! Something really strange just happened, and I am not sure what to think! I over heard my sister Katia talking to her friend Liza the other day. They are both adopted from Russia. They were talking about their families there, and it made me think about what happened to my parents. I don't remember them because I was so small when I was adopted, so I decided to look at my adoption papers to see if I could find out anything...

When I went into my dad's office (which we aren't supposed to do), I noticed his safe was open just a little bit, and I decided to take a look. Inside the safe, there was a lot of money, my parents' marriage license, some stuff about our house, and a box with each of the kids' names on it. I pulled mine out and opened it. First, I pulled out my adoption paperwork. I'd seen that before, and put it aside. The next paper I pulled out surprised me. It was for an official name change. The original name on the page was Abisola Iroegbu and the new name was Keesha Arielle Lawrence! I was surprised, but it's not that uncommon to rename an adopted kid, especially one who is adopted as a baby. But, the next paper I pulled out was really strange. It was a newspaper clipping with a picture of me with my birth parents. I was really small, maybe about two and wearing a fancy dress. Both of my parents were dressed really fancy, and we were all wearing crowns. The only reason I knew it was us is because sometimes I dream about them. The picture looked just like my dreams. Then I read the paper. It talked a lot about some politics in Nigeria (which was weird since my parents said I'm from Namibia), and then about the tragic deaths of a tribal king and his entire family. They were murdered in their home by a warring tribe. That's when I realized it! The dreams I have about my birth parents are real, and that makes me a Nigerian princess! I'm not really sure what to think. My parents always told me that my birth parents died of malaria, but now I know they didn't. The last document had all kinds of legal stuff written that I don't really understand. I think the main point was that no one is supposed to know my true identity and that my adoptive parents have sworn to keep me safe.

I've always felt like something wasn't quite right about the story my parents tell about my adoption. Now I really know what happened. Should I tell my parents that I know? I don't want them to be mad at me! I also don't want my friends to treat me differently. I don't feel like a princess. I hate girly things, and I like to play in the dirt.

Remy Sleeps Over!

Hi, everyone! It's Katia, and I have some fun pictures to share with you! Since today was a school holiday (Happy Birthday, Dr. King!), my best friend, Remy, slept over last night. Here are some pics from our day!

My best friend Remy slept over at my house last night! Today, we started the day off with breakfast in bed! My mom made us heart shaped waffles! Yummy!


It was cold outside, so we decided to stay snuggled up in my bed for awhile.


We got out my newest LaLaLoopsies. I just got Alice in LaLaLoopsy Land and the Wacky Hatter and Cinder Slippers and Prince Charming. Wacky Hatter is my favorite of those four!


Then we let my hamster, Vlad, play on my bed for awhile. My mom caught us and made us put him back in his cage. She said she doesn't want to have to wash hamster crumbs out of the sheets!


Vlad really liked Remy!


Then we decided to play a game, but we didn't have enough people, so we mostly just made up our own game.


After all that, we went to the skating rink because I had to practice for my competition, but my coach doesn't allow us to use cameras for fun during practice time, so no pics there. Remy just watched me skate and have my lesson.

I have my own room now!

Hi, everyone! It's Katia, and I have some very good news! I finally got my own room! I am so excited! I was sleeping in my sister, Mei's room. Mei was sharing a room with Katia, but now I have my own room! My two best friends surprised me by fixing it up while I was school today. Here are some pictures!

Remy and Liza waiting for me to get home

When I first walked into my new room

The three of us in front of my bed

Trying out my new bed

The three of us hanging out on my bed

Study area

Floor and my hamster, who's named Vladimir

My room!