Ferrone-Smith Family: October 2012

All About Catherine

Hi! I am Catherine Ferrone, mom and domestic engineer of the family. I have a degree in Marketing, but I have stayed home since Elliot was born, 18 years ago! I like to read and play the piano. I really enjoy teaching Isabella and Anastasia, and now that little Catherine is five, she gets to be homeschooled too!

Here is a little more about me:

This is Victoria and me at Grand Central station in New York City. What an adventure that was.

I also love animals. I used to work for an animal rescue and we would often foster dogs who had come from a shelter.

We seem to have fun whenever we go! We are at a park here.

Love the beach!

Travis and I have a very strong marriage. We talk to each other about everything. He is my best friend.

This is the swimming pool in our neighborhood.

I encourage my children to be creative, kind and responsible. Here they are pretending they are on a train. We try to emphasize to our children the importance of thinking of others.

I like to make time for each child to have special time everyday.

This is me and Francesca and Victoria in the orphanage in Ukraine. I was there for 6 weeks until I could bring them home. Travis went home after 3 weeks to be with the other kids.

Flying home with two babies on a 15 hour flight was tough, but it really made me strong. If I can do that, I can do anything! The babies didn't sleep at all!

This is Victoria in her cast from her hip surgery. Poor Victoria didn't sleep very well while she was in the cast, so we had lots of snuggle time.

Even though Elliot is grown up, we are still very close. I really miss him now that he has gone away to school, but we visit often.

For everyone of my children's birthday, I bake a special cake the reflects their personality. Francesca got a hamburger cake because she loves to eat! I used kiwi's for the pickles and brownies were the meat.

This is Anastasia and me at her 9th birthday. We took her to a special restaurant.

I am never to busy to cuddle!

Even though some of our children may have challenges, I try to encourage them to reach for the stars and not to let anything stop them.

The kids made me a plastic food dinner - yum!

This is my birthday (even though we are using Christmas wrapping paper!)

We like to have dance parties!

This is me with my mom and Grandma and little Catherine. We are all named Catherine!

My mom and I are very close. I can always count on her and we talk about everything.

Another dance party.

Our Favorite Son, Elliot

Of course, Elliot is also our only son! He is the one who made us a mom and dad! Elliot is 18 years old, so now he has moved away and is going to school. We really miss him, but luckily, he is only a few hours a way, so we can visit him a lot. Elliot is studying computers, which he is really good at. He also likes to play basketball and running track.

Elliot and Catherine's dad have always been very close. I think they look a lot alike!

My smart boy! Elliot has dyslexia, so we had to learn to navigate the school system to get him the help he needed. His favorite subjects are math, science and computers.

He is always ready with a joke. He keeps us laughing!

We are always so glad to be all together.

This is at the airport when Catherine came home from the Ukraine.

Mr. Cool Dude!

We got Elliot a watch when he finished school.

Here is Elliot doing his favorite things: working on the computer and eating!

We are very proud of him!

This picture is very special. It was Catherine's birthday and Elliot got her a heart necklace.

Goofball! If you can't grow a mustache, you can always draw one on!

Elliot is a great big brother! They girls all look up to him. He likes to run around and chase them and play hide and seek. He tries to help whenever he can.

This was Elliot's birthday and his favorite food, crab legs!

Sweet Isabella

"My name is Isabella and I am 11 1/2. I am learning Spanish and sign language at school. I like to play with my dolls the most, but I like to swim too. I love babies alot and hope we can adopt your baby and love the baby forever."

Isabella is our oldest daughter. We adopted her from Haiti when she was almost 7 years old. We waited two long years for Isabella to come home. Isabella is amazing. She learned English so quickly when she came to the US. She will be 12 in a few months. She is in the 5th grade. Isabella is one of the kindest people you'll ever meet. She is very thoughtful and considerate of others. She likes to draw a lot and she loves gymnastics.

Isabella likes to be fancy!