Just chillin' out

The other morning I was hanging out with my precious girl, eating snacks and playing on my iPhone. I had already snapped a bunch of photos of her and the two of us together with my phone when it dawned on me that I needed to grab my big girl camera.  So I dashed around the house and grabbed it.  I was too lazy to hook up my wireless remote trigger or set up the tripod.  So I propped my camera up on the table and kept running around it to get in the shots.

I love this girl!!!!  

We've had so much fun doing school together these last few weeks.  She's really coming along with her reading and numbers.  I wish I had done K with Caleb this way- a lot less structured. 

Anyway, while I'm busy talking about Madeline, I thought I would share this video of her riding her brother's old bike...without the training wheels!  She was determined to do it, and it didn't take long.  Somehow she finds a way to keep balanced, despite having a shortened left arm.  After Patrick showed her how to keep going, I showed her how to start.  She's completely independent now.  Amazing.  

Sunday Snapshot: A little update...'cause a LOT is going on

Yep.  We have been hopping over here.  Busy.  Busy.  Busy.I always intend to update the blog regularly.  However, when life gets busy, there's just not enough time to talk about it!
So here goes the reader's digest version of the last few weeks.
For starters, I have some unfortunate news.  I have been trying to digest it myself for the last few days, delaying this post even more.
My sister's dear friend, Gina, continues to battle breast cancer.  And the latest news is not good.  The clinical trial she began in Houston has not been effective.  They are starting her on new chemotherapy drugs. This news stinks beyond stink.  I can't say much more besides that without sobbing.  So I'm moving on.
Back when we were celebrating Madeline's birthday at Disney with my sister, brother-in-law and niece, I had the chance to snap a few quick photos of my sister and nephew, Joshua.
 

Can you believe this precious munchkin is going to be 9 months old this month?
During the local school's spring break, we had a chance to head to Tampa to catch a Yankee Spring Training game against the Minnesota Twins.  My sister, Andy and kids, along with Andy's parents also made the trip.  We had a blast.  We also spent one day at Busch Gardens and another on Clearwater Beach.  A truly fantastic weekend.  I'll share those photos a little later.
Madeline continues to dance and prepare for her upcoming recital in June. 


We had a chance to observe last month.  She is regularly one step ahead of everyone.  It's quite funny to watch.





Last week, we had the opportunity to meet up with a fellow adoptive family visiting the Mouse for Spring Break. The Crebbins are an awesome crew. We had such a blast. Caleb and Kaia hit it off. Jaelyn and Madeline were unfazed that they were both missing parts of their left arms and just had fun. Now, we're just gonna have to plan a visit to the Pacific Northwest some time soon. Those photos will come later too. 
 Also last week in baseball, Caleb hit his first ever double! Not only that, he hit two of them! And I managed to get them on video. Here he is making his first double.
 
He was a bit under the weather this past week. However, he rested up all week so he would be ready to play baseball this weekend. And what did he do? He hit his first ever triple! We are so proud of him. All of his teammates played a great game today. They continue to improve each week. It's so fun to watch.
I've also been doing a little bit of sewing.  I made Madeline a cute little bubble top and shorts for Easter tomorrow and a simple little skirt.  Next up are some lounge pants for Caleb since he's outgrown the few I've already made him.  Then I plan on working through my big stash of fabrics so Madeline will have some fun, new clothes for this spring/summer.  I've had some of these fabrics sitting around for two years.  So it's about time I find the time to make some cute pieces for her.
A quick note about Havi's adoption.  We've been working on our dossier and home study documents and will finally begin our home study this month.  We'll probably be DTC some time late summer.
Well, that just about sums up the last month.  I do apologize that I have neglected the blog. I will come back some time this week with a few more photos to go along with all these fun times.
I hope everyone has a wonderful Easter.  
And please, please pray for dear Gina- for healing and peace.

Homeschooling update: Expanding

I've been meaning to do a homeschool update for a while.  We've just been so busy that I haven't found the time.  The following principle sums up our latest happenings.

“The question is not—how much does the youth know when he has finished his education—but how much does he care? and about how many orders of things does he care? In fact, how large is the room in which he finds his feet set? and, therefore, how full is the life he has before him?”

In order to expand the number of things Caleb cares about, we have added classical music/composer study to our curriculum.  Before jumping in to the Ambleside Online composer study schedule, I thought I would first introduce the genre of classical music.  We began with listening to Peter and the Wolf by Sergei Prokofiev.  The kids really love it and usually ask for it right after we sing our hymn at breakfast.

We've also been listening to Carnival of the Animals composed by Camille Saint-Saens and The Nutcracker by Piotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, additionally playing them as background music while doing copywork and such.  This has been such a delight, not only for the kidlets, but for me as well.  The kids particularly love to act out Peter and the Wolf.  It's such a joy to see.  Perhaps I'll have to get them doing so on video.

Speaking of videos....a typical narration for Caleb takes place at the computer.  He narrates as I type.  However, I have been videotaping his narrations from The Trumpet of the Swan.  Here's how Chapter 14 went.

Generally speaking, Madeline isn't this distracting. She's gotten so much better at waiting until the end of Caleb's narration before speaking to me.  The both of them were just a wee bit giddy that day.

On to nature study...

Since we do most of our schooling four days a week, we set aside Fridays for nature study, errands, doctors appointments and such.  It seems that every Friday as I drive over the causeway (across the river) to run errands, I spot a Great Blue Heron hanging out along the shore in the same area.  I am constantly scanning the shoreline as I drive now instead of just occasionally.  However, no sooner do I spot it, then we drive past, and it's too late for the kids to see.  

Yesterday was no different.  However, upon returning home, I spotted both a Great Blue Heron and a Great Egret and determined that the kids were going to see one of these birds.  We parked in a recreational area, got out, and started walking along the shore.  As we turned a corner (we had walked out onto a point), we practically walked right into the Great Blue Heron.  I was so glad the kids finally got to see one.  (It had been several years since Caleb had seen one, which he has regularly reminded me about lately. lol)  Anyway, we saw it just in time because as we looked out on the river (thanks to another onlooker), a sheet of rain was coming our way.  That was pretty cool to witness.

Because we school year round, we just continue on to the next thing once we've completed the current year's work.  So we'll be starting up fourth grade math and third grade grammar next week.  This past week, Caleb finished reading Stuart Little by E. B While and has since started reading Little House in the Big Woods by Laura Ingalls Wilder.  He thoroughly enjoyed it when I read it aloud to him not too long ago, and he has the same enjoyment while reading it aloud to me!  It's precious.

So back to science/natural history...

As you can see, we have been studying birds a great deal lately.  We now have two bird feeders hanging from our oak trees, one in the front yard and one in the back.  Next thing we need to add are a few bird baths.  I've managed to capture a few birds with my camera.  So I will be putting together a little post on that.  

Anyway, what I love about learning at home is seeing Caleb question the world around him.  Last night as I put him to bed, he was thinking about Louis, the trumpeter swan and asked me how birds fly.  Thankfully, our science curriculum has a lesson on this physics principle, so I will be able to lead Caleb to his own understanding of how birds fly. Love it!

I have so much more that I want to blog about.  I surely hope to find some time in the next few weeks.  Monday Madeline will be celebrating her 4th birthday.  It's hard to believe.  She was just 19 months at referral.  Time has passed so quickly.  It really needs to slow down.

Anyway, enjoy the rest of your weekend!

I'm sure I'll be back to share some birthday fun!

Have you heard the latest?

...number that is.  

Over the weekend, we attended a small party to celebrate one of our friend's 50th.  To say that he has a nice set up at his house would be an understatement.  He's a serious drummer. I can't even pretend to know a thing about drumming.  But I can tell you that the dumplings had an absolute blast.  Tony was so gracious to let them bang away and entertain themselves (and us, too!)

Here's Caleb on drums and Madeline on vocals, singing the latest chart topper "Have a great day!"

(Sorry that the video is so dark.  Tony has sound controlled lighting and fog....big hits!)

And if you think I've forgotten how to take photos of my kids, don't worry.  

I have another post coming soon with *gasp* photos!

More videos?

As if I haven't shared enough videos lately, I have more.  Yep.  I haven't had my camera in my hand much at all lately, but I always (most days, if you ask Patrick) carry my phone with me.

Once a month, Madeline's dance studio has an observation day, when parents can come back and watch the children during their lesson.  I was unsure how Madeline would handle Caleb being in the same room, and my suspicions were confirmed.  While they practiced their routine for their recital, she kept pointing her finger at her brother.  It was hilarious.  Although I videotaped that, I won't be sharing it here just yet because I don't want to spoil the actual recital performance.

However, I did get another video of her during her warm up.

And not to leave out Caleb...

We had some fun this week with science.  In addition to reading great quality, "living books" like Thornton Burgess' Bird Book and his seashore book and James Herriot's Treasury for Children, we still continue to work our way through Dr. Nebel's Building Foundations Through Scientific Understanding.  I really love his socratic approach.  I love how all the scientific disciplines are studied concurrently, so children can see how they're related, rather than seeing concepts as isolated and disjointed.

Anyway, this week's lesson was a part of our ongoing study on the particulate nature of matter.  We learned about how the air in the atmosphere is a mixture of gases: nitrogen, oxygen, and carbon dioxide.  We also learned that burning requires 1.fuel (in our case wax from a candle) and 2. oxygen.  Finally, we learned how carbon dioxide is a byproduct of burning, can put out a flame, and it's role in our own breathing and photosythesis.  Phew.

Anyway, before we talked about any of this, I mixed baking soda and vinegar together, resulting in a chemical reaction that produced carbon dioxide.  I then "poured" my jar of carbon dioxide over the candle, which consequently extinguished the flame.  Naturally Caleb was floored and not only wanted to see the demonstration done again, he wanted to create the mixture and "pour" the carbon dioxide on the candle himself.  I obliged.

(And yes, you did hear him say "carbon dioxygen".  How cute!)

Unfortunately with the rain we got on Friday, we couldn't do our weekly nature study.  So I was bummed about that.  A highlight one morning this week , for me at least (as the kids were still in bed) was seeing a male and female cardinal together!  I've never before seen a female cardinal.  So I was quite tickled.

Hopefully this week my camera will see some action, and I'll actually have photos to share.

Golf anyone?

Last weekend, Patrick took the kids to our itty bitty local driving range. It is literallly down the street, about 1/2 mile, just past our baseball fields. We live on a narrow island, so real estate is hard to come by, and as such, the course is also on the smaller side (par 68 I believe.) Anyway, it was Madeline's first time, while Caleb has been a few times already. I can't wait until we can all get out there together! 
 Enjoy!

Resurfacing

Gosh, I know I'm not the best blogger in the world, but I didn't realize how long it's been since I last posted.  Not too much has been going on lately, other than the typical- homeschooling, therapy, dance for Madeline, and life in general.

I previously mentioned that I would try to videotape Caleb narrating Shakespeare using his finger puppets.  In actuality, it's a bit hard because there are always several different characters involved, and I am always participating with him.  So I decided to ask him for a brief recap, after he had finished narrating one day.


 
 I just love how he says proper names he's not familiar with- just like my Gramma! It's so precious. 
 This week, I took the kids down to our local pier for a nature walk. This is something I've wanted to make a weekly occurrence out of, but unfortunately, that hasn't happened. I was thankful that, as we were preparing to head home, a snowy egret decided to make an appearance. 

The other thing we've been doing a lot of is reading.  Lots.  Caleb has recently finished Toad for Tuesday by Russell Erickson (awesome!), The Bears on Hemlock Mountain by Alice Dalgliesh, and The Courage of Sarah Noble also by Alice Dalgliesh.
For read alouds, we finished up Pinocchio.  Even Madeline enjoyed listening in.  I thought I might lose her because the language in the original is quite rich.  Nope, she hung in there.  There were so many lessons to be learned, too.  It was a great way to talk about how God calls us to act without sounding preachy (another Charlotte Mason nugget.)  We're now reading a great little fairytale The King of the Golden River by John Ruskin.  It was his only book for children, and boy, am I glad he wrote it!  It is a feast for the imagination.  Add it to the list of books "I wish I read this when I was kid".
And me?  In preparation for next years reading selections from Ambleside Online Year 2, I am reading Pilgrim's Progress by John Bunyan and The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame. Alongside Pilgrim's Progress I am reading Helen Taylor's Little Pilgrim's Progress.  The reason for doing so is because Ambleside spreads Pilgrim's Progress out across Years 2 and 3.  And although I love, love, LOVE the original writing, I prefer Caleb to read Helen Taylor's version for little children before I read the unabridged version to him in Year 3.  So far, I think she's done a fabulous job at staying true to the original. Really.  Amazing.  
If I'm being honest, this is my first time reading both Pilgrim's Progress AND The Wind in the Willows.  See?  I told you I suffered severely from exposure to literary masterpieces while growing up.  A Charlotte Mason education is not only a good choice for my children but for me as well.  In fact, after I read the first chapter of The Wind in the Willows, I wrote down my own narration.  Seriously, I rather enjoyed typing up my narration!
Anyway, as you can see, we've had our noses in books.  Lots of them.  And really loving it.  It just warms my heart to see Caleb reading to Madeline, as he does so almost daily.  And watching Madeline reading to her dolls, priceless.
Tomorrow we head out to celebrate the New Year with friends.  Hopefully, I'll take some photos (haven't done much of that lately) if we don't get rained out.

Ringing in the New Year

Happy New Year everyone!

Our New Year's celebration was very low key. We thought we would begin a New Year's Eve tradition by soaking in the hot tub as a family. Between our kids and the kids next door, our backyards were quite loud. Then we toasted the New Year around 9:00pm. Here's a little video of the kids celebrating. (I apologize in advance for the low lighting and digital noise.)



Madeline thoroughly enjoyed her sparkling juice, and her brothers, and the rest of the bottle. She was a hoot!

After returning from church on New Year's Day, I thought I would snap a few photos of the kidlets. In some of the photos, they are sporting their party beads from the night before.

Caleb got in a few shots with the round ball. He is absolutely loving his new basketball hoop.

Madeline had fun writing her name with the sidewalk chalk.

The biggest hit of the afternoon was the remote control monster truck that Caleb got from his Bammy for Christmas.

Both kids had a lot of fun playing with it.

These two kidlets really love each other.

Though sometimes, they just aren't in the mood for any of mom's photo sessions.

We can't wait to see how much these precious dumplings grow in 2012, physically, emotionally, socially, academically, and most importantly, spiritually.

Hello, 2012!
Ready or not, here we come!

Sunday Snapshot: An amusing time!

Ok. So, remember all those photos I took in October? Um, yeah. Tons. And the time to edit them? Non-existent. So what did I do? I used minimal editing on all of them so I could get them up here to share. Then life happened. Yep. Back to the hustle and bustle of every day.

Anyway, I thought I would share a few photos from our trip to Disney World last month for Patrick's birthday. We don't typical "do" Disney on his birthday. However, this year Caleb's Gotcha Day fell on a Saturday and conflicted with his baseball game. Still, we didn't want to miss out on our Disney trip. So we saved the T Rex Restaurant for his Gotcha Day and hit up the Big Mouse a little earlier.

We don't hurry over there in the morning. So we typically arrive in time for lunch. We usually catch the Dream Along with Mickey Show.

Then we'll head over to Pinocchio's Village for some lunch. Caleb started getting a bit hungry while he waited for Patrick to come back with his food.

The kids really enjoy playing with all the fun stuff there is at the Winnie the Pooh ride. It just might be more fun than the actual ride.

We ALWAYS hit the Raceway. Caleb has become quite the little driver. And well, Madeline surprised me by giving up the wheel this time.

We inevitably stop for an afternoon snack, like ice cream or a smoothie in Tomorrowland, as this is where we spend most of our time.

And just to be sure the thrill and excitement of amusement parks didn't end, this past weekend we had the chance to attend our local state fair. We only stayed for a little bit, but boy, did we pack in a lot of fun. This was our first time going. So I was pleasantly surprised at how many kiddie rides there were. Caleb and Madeline had an absolute blast. It was non-stop laughter from the two of them. We dined on carnival food of corn dogs and chicken-on-a-stick. Yummy. Madeline spotted the kiddie roller coaster and begged to go on. Patrick has been hesitant until this point to let her ride a roller coaster because she's so young. But he finally relented. I rode with her, and from the first turn, she never stopped laughing! She loved it! My own stomach hurt so bad from laughing the entire time. As soon as she stepped off, she said "That was so much fun!"

One thing that we all had a chance to do together was the slide. The slide was my mom's favorite carnival "ride". I had a chance to capture this little race between Daddy and the kidlets on video. To say that we all had a fun-filled night would be an understatement.





To check out more Sunday Snapshots, head on over to Stefanie's blog.

Entertaining

That's what these kids are. Honestly, they keep us in stitches all the time. I thought I would quickly share a few videos of them. Taking videos on my iPhone has been waaay easier than taking photos, uploading and editing them. So this is all I have right now.

I have been sewing a few things for Madeline lately. So the kids and I have been spending a fair amount of time at the fabric store. This is how they decided to entertain themselves.

We've also been spending several days a week down at the ball field, as both Caleb and Madeline are playing ball. Caleb is adjusting to coach pitch really well. We are so proud of him. And Madeline has done surprisingly well at tee ball. And when I say that, I mean she has participated in all of her practices in their entirety! She listens to the coaches and does what she's told. What more could we ask for? ;) Last week, she had the chance to swing the bat for the first time. Anticipating she might have trouble holding the bat (what 3.5yo with one hand wouldn't), I devised a little wrist strap to help her stabilize the bat. She has subsequently stopped using it because she still wants to hold the bat with both arms/hand. But that is the red thing you see her trying to remove in the video. It's hard to hear, but her batting coach asked her if she wanted him to run with her to first base. Enough explanation...now, on to the video....

Sunday Snapshot: A little bit of Tennessee

It's not much, admittedly.  I have been swamped with lots of happenings here on the homefront.  But I thought I would share a few photos and one hilarious video from our China reunion in Tennessee.

Rebecca wanted to get a photo of the three precious kiddos from Guangzhou so she could email it to the orphanage.  So here is Caleb with two beauties by his side, Analise on the left and Hannah on the right.

Then we asked both girls to give Caleb a kiss. Um, they weren't exactly interested.

Now getting a photo of all the kiddos there (except little Hannah) proved to be a bit of a challenge...not because of the number of kiddos. Nope, it's because the children of the photographer were included in the shot. Yep, my precious dumplings (mostly Madeline) made taking this photo waaaaay harder than it had to be. All the other children cooperated. But Madeline? Oh geez....just typical Madeline.

We had such a fabulous time in Tennesse with our travel group. And I do promise to share more about our trip along with the photos. So hang in there. Promise. Before I sign off, though, I have to share a video I took of Caleb and Madeline splashing around at Little River. They really enjoyed collecting rocks and then skipping throwing them back into the river.



To see more Sunday Snapshots, check out Stefanie's blog.

Bustin' at the seams

...with pride, that is.

Yep. These kiddos of ours have been up to much lately. I'll start with Caleb.

This past Friday, I had his homeschool portfolio reviewed for his annual requirement. A dear, homeschooling friend hooked us up with a very gracious teacher from our church to review Caleb's portfolio. Since this was his first review, I gave her some background.

I shared with her how he was adopted from China at 34 months and how he came to us with speech and language delays. His separation anxiety was the determining factor in beginning to school him two years ago. I decided to begin K with him early, at 4 1/2, and just took it from there. He did quite well.

We continued on with 1st grade this year. And he handled it like a champ. His math skills soared. I had a hard time keeping up with him, as he's working several grade levels ahead. His reading dramatically improved. His sentence writing is amazing (thanks to the classical approach) ; you'd be hard pressed to know he's getting services through the school. In fact, I believe all the hard work during our structured language arts time is going help him "graduate" from services sooner. :) I work with him every day. So I know how he performs. But it was really nice to sit down with an unbiased observer and hear her echo these same sentiments. He's performing above grade level in every area. *insert heart leap* 'Tis music to my ears. Patrick and I are just so so proud of our precious boy.

And for Madeline....well...

As you all know, she's had a busy summer swimming. Whereas Caleb simply needed to incorporate floating into his swimming, Madeline didn't know how to do a thing. Last summer was spent preparing for and adopting this precious munchkin. So when we arrived home last August, we never considered swimming lessons for her; we knew we would wait until this summer to begin them.

Lessons began five weeks ago. The first two weeks were spent crying while learning to float. That's all Carmen could work on with her because she refused to open her eyes under water, a necessity in learning to swim safely. Carmen finally decided to let her use goggles as a crutch simply because she needed to learn the next skills. It worked. She put her head under water and would swim. Here's a video of Madeline finally swimming without her goggles. Yay!



Next up was the task of combining her swimming and floating into her swim-float-swim sequence. As I mentioned earlier, Madeline did this successfully this past week. Depending on the skills Carmen was working on with Madeline, she would give me instructions on what we could and couldn't do in the pool at home. So needless to say, I was thrilled when she asked me to get in the water this past Friday during the lesson in order to learn some hand signals to give Madeline. This meant we could swim and float all we wanted this weekend. And that we did. She swam in the pool these last three days for 1-2 hours each day. *insert jaw drop*

Here's just one little video we got of her jumping in, finding her float, and then swimming to the wall.

She has simply amazed us. It's hard to believe this is the same girl who wouldn't open her eyes, cried during her lessons and had "crocodile fights" with Carmen in the water. No doubt watching another older boy and her brother perform all these skills has served as motivation for her. Now, she certainly can't be left in the water alone at this point. But I feel totally comfortable being away from her in the water. I am not worried about her falling in the water and freaking out or drowning. In fact, "falling in" has become a bit of game. In the meantime, Carmen will be tweaking some things, like a quieter float and better movement into her swim from her float. But I honestly didn't think she would be doing any of these things this summer. My goal for her was to simply learn to float. Boy, did I underestimate her!

Anyway, I guess that's enough bragging for now. Hey, it's my blog. So I can do that, right? Well, I'm trying to edit a few photos still and have some exciting news to share. So stay tuned.

Bad, bad blogger.......yup!

I can hardly believe how long it's been since I've updated our blog. The reason? We have been so stinkin' BUSY! And finding a moment to sit at the computer to give an update has been hard to come by. *sigh* So I will do my best to share the Reader's Digest version of our last month.

The first week of May was a big celebration around here, as my birthday and Mother's Day fall within days of each other. We spent several days at the Beach Club at Disney, just relaxing and soaking up the sun and water. The kids built sand castles at the pool and had loads of fun. Madeline gave it her best shot.

We also went for a family bike ride along the Boardwalk. To say the kids enjoyed themselves would be an understatement. See for yourselves.






My sister, Andy, and Leah came to visit us while we were there. So the kids all had a blast. Deb and I also had facials done at the Grand Floridian, which was a treat because we've never had facials done TOGETHER. :) It was a nice, little birthday treat for us. We all had Mother's Day brunch with Andy's parents and brother. It was such a lovely time.

Baseball season wrapped up. Caleb finished up the season playing his best and wearing a smile all the while. When trophies were handed out, Coach Randy called Caleb the team captain. Well, you can imagine the tears filling my eyes at that moment. We are so proud of how far he has come....from spending practices watching from the dugout last fall to transfering his glove to free up his throwing arm....

...making so many outs

and hitting the ball to the fence

His transformation has been nothing short of amazing. He can't wait to play coach pitch ball in the fall. We are so excited that he wants to "move up."

We have managed to play catch in the yard, despite the warm temps here in Florida. Our pool was in desperate need of refinishing, as was the pool deck. Fortunately, those tasks are out of the way so we can spend our blazing hot afternoons swimming in the pool again. We just bought a little slide meant for the yard and put it at the shallow end of the pool. (We got this idea from our brillant neighbors.) The kids have had an absolute blast sliding down it and making big waves!

And in case you can't tell how happy I am to share videos in this post (because they're way easier than photos at the moment), here's another one of Madeline talking about her baby soup bathing suit.





Also this past month, we had the privledge of watching a dear friend of ours, Lisa Duhaime, participate in Dancing With Brevard.  This has become an annual event to raise money for the KLD Youth Foundation, a foundation to help "at risk" youth. We are so proud of both Lisa's dancing AND fundraising, and consequently, she finished in 3rd place for the competition. It was a night of great fun and entertainment. We are SO proud of her. She rocked it out!

This past weekend, Deb, Andy, and Leah came over to just chill out by the pool and relax. We ordered up BBQ from a great place in town....and then we did just that....RELAXED!

We are continuing to do "light" school. I am really enjoying the shortened days and am wondering how it might be possible to keep this schedule going all year. Caleb continues to amaze me with his mental math skills. He's known all his addition/subtraction/multiplication/division facts for a few months now. But now he's multiplying a single digit by multidigit numbers mentally! He's amazing!!

I have said for quite some time that Caleb doesn't really need a spelling program because he does quite well for a 6yo. What I didn't realize was how multisensory my own approach to spelling was and how beneficial this has been for him. Now I finally realize why he's such a good speller. When we finished up our Phonics program in April, I wasn't thrilled with the next grade's Scope and Sequence. Consequently I decided to toss that option but wondered how we would go about "finishing" phonics instruction where we left off. A few weeks ago, my searching came to an end....with the Writing Road to Reading. This is EXACTLY what I was looking for- a program that would let Caleb go at his own pace in spelling and finish his phonics instruction. It uses 70 phonograms and a Spelling notebook....and that's it. It's no frills- love it. And it's almost what we were already doing. This is how I hope to do phonics and spelling with Madeline too, which will naturally lead to reading for her. She's already wanting to "drill" the phonogram flashcards and gets in a fuss when I tell her that's enough "school" for the moment. LOL.

We continue to do History and Science.  I'm like a kid in a candy store when the library calls to tell me all books that I've put on hold are in.  We are really enjoying the additional literature selections.

Well, I think that just about covers our "month in review".  I promise not to neglect the blog like this again.  And I will try to share a few more photos when I get around to editing them in the coming days.  A big thank you to those of you who continue to follow the blog despite the fact that I am a bad, bad blogger these days.

A lesson or two

Call me a bad mama, I didn't take any {GASP} photos of the kidlets on Easter. Yup. Very bad. However, Patrick did manage a little video (a la iPhone) during our little Easter Egg hunt Sunday morning.

If you listen in closely in the beginning, you can hear Caleb explaining the concept of camouflage. Just precious, if you ask me.  You can also see how patience is something Madeline is still working on.

Next up....I thought I heard some chatter behind me this afternoon, as I was trying to get some work done on the computer. I turned around and this is what I saw. Be sure to turn your volume WAY UP because, otherwise, it's hard to hear.



In case you're wondering, there was no real sentence on the board. Caleb was just making it up. How stinkin' cute is that?! It seems his grammar is sticking. Love this boy!

Oh how time slips away

Gosh, I can't believe how many days have passed since I last had the chance to share some photos and a quick update. I'll do my best to satisfy both those needs.

Caleb hasn't been playing much baseball these last two weeks, as the local schools have been on Spring Break this past week. All practices are canceled and games are rescheduled for non-regular practice/game days. He did have two games since I last blogged. I must have missed the memo for the first one because I thought for sure, we were still playing tee ball. But apparently, the other team was convinced this was the World Series or something. I realize this is just the beginning of being around players/parents/coaches who don't share the same attitude about "having fun" while learning to play a sport. But sheesh. Fist pumping, leg kicking, and keeping track of runs in tee ball....where every batter gets a turn to bat every inning and no outs or runs are recorded....it seems a bit over the top. But I could be wrong.......um, NOT.

I really like Caleb's coach, Randy, because the kids are always having fun when they play. He makes every kid on the team feel special. He's wonderful with them.

Caleb enjoys playing tee ball. He loves to get out there and do his best. He swings the bat with all his might. He runs like the dickens.

He's recently decided to do a "Jim Abbott" move...throwing and catching with his right arm (although Jim used his left for both.)

I'm so proud of him for trying this out.

Last week, we had the chance to catch the Yankees at one of their Spring Training games. It's amazing what one season of tee ball has done to Caleb's fan participation in an actual game. He was following the umpire's calls of strikes and outs and watching the interaction of the players. It warmed my heart to no end to see this. Madeline enjoyed singing her own version of the "ABC song" during the game.

A fun time was had by all.

Other than that, we are keeping busy with our homeschooling. And since I have quite a bit to say on that, I'll have to leave it for another post. But before signing off, here are a few photos of Madeline having fun in my studio the front yard.....no, she's not trying to eat eat her arm, just making a silly face.

A few videos for your viewing pleasure

This post is a bit overdue (what's new, LOL.) But I wanted to quickly share with you a few videos. The first one is of our little 6 month Gotcha celebration for Madeline. We didn't do anything other than cupcakes. As you can see in the video, Madeline is up to her same old tricks, that silly girl.

We love you, precious girl. It's hard to believe it's been 6 months since that hot day in Wuhan, when you were finally placed in our arms. You've come a long way, little dumplin', as so clearly seen in the video above.

Next up is Caleb, who, as of this past Sunday, has been riding his bike without training wheels! The video below was taken after those first passes with Daddy in front of the house. And five days later....well, he can't be stopped! We're so proud of you, Caleb!!!!

Well, tomorrow starts the spring season of Tee ball down here. Caleb is so pumped up to be playing again. His head coach will be one of his coaches from last year. And assistant coach is... drum roll please..... DADDY!

We're ready for baseball!

Patrick took some video yesterday (with his iphone) of Caleb during his t-ball practice. We are so proud of him for getting out there and doing his best. His first game is one week away! I took some photos too. But I still have to upload them. Anyway, enjoy!

Jin Bei and her markers

So today marks one week home, and I decided to give Jin Bei her Crayola wonder color markers. These are wonderful, as they only write on special paper. She figured out quite quickly how to get the caps on and off, which is no surprise because she's a little smartie pants. But true to form (like her crayons and the ziplock bag), she was more interested in taking the caps on and off instead of actually using her markers. Just precious. By the way, I took this video with my new iphone, which I am totally digging. Thanks, honey!

Caleb can tie mama's shoes!

I realize this is just another step in Caleb's development and, therefore, may not seem like such a big deal. But to this mama of a 5yo child with a limb difference, I am just thrilled. My little man tied mama's shoe today all by himself. I did a tiny bit of verbal coaching at one point. But he really did it all by himself. I got it on video, but I still need to download the software onto the desktop before I can get it here on the blog. Once I do, I will be sure to post the video here. This makes me so happy because the strength in Caleb's left hand is still very weak, even after his surgery. So holding a shoelace together to form a bunny ear is not easy for him. Anyway, I'm just tickled and so very proud of him.




***Edited to add: the video I promised***

Caleb ties mama's shoe! @ Yahoo! Video

The CC@@ is back from their holiday break. But still no word on our new LID. Another transfer family who submitted their paperwork a month after us just got word their new LID is 2.9.10. So, we too, are hopeful to have a new LID but just don't know it yet.

Now, I have a favor to ask those of you who follow this blog. It would really mean a lot to me (and our children when they are older) if you could make comments in the comments section when something is meaningful to you. I realize I am not the most engaging storyteller and most of things I blog about really only matter most to the three of us. But this adoption journey has been long, hard, painful, and, frankly, lonely. The reason we chose to blog before traveling and while traveling in China is to share our lives with you during this journey. So it would be really meaningful to us if you could take the time to leave a comment in the comment section once in a while. Your comments are a source of comfort to us today and are something our children will cherish when they are older. Otherwise, it feels like this blog is only for us, and that was not its original intent. Thanks.

A Long Time Coming

Well, I have been meaning to put together this photo montage for quite some time. And I'm excited to say, that it is finally done! It's been almost two years since we brought Caleb home from China...but it's better late than never. I've included some photos that highlight our trip, as well as a tiny piece of video from our Gotcha Day. I had some issues with the music and Youtube, so I've had to re-work it. Nonetheless, I hope you enjoy. Thanks for watching.