handsful

He thinks cameras are for goofing off.

I’ve been so hit or miss with Dylan’s month milestones! I almost missed 7 and then TOTALLY missed 8. Oh well, I guess I’ll forgive myself.

Today marks NINE MONTHS since that wonderful Gotcha Day in China. People ask me “how did you prepare differently when you adopted a toddler??” I had already read all the books with Lainey’s adoption. We realized that the odds of having attachment and other issues increase when a child is in an orphanage longer, but honestly…and I hesitate to say it.

He’s been easy.

Other than not wanting to eat much (which we’re still dealing with, along with trying to find out why he’s still NOT gaining weight…), and learning how to deal with being told no, his transition to our home/family has been….easy. It’s like he knew from day one…

“finally…they finally came for me”.

And, we love him more everyday. (hey, ignore the laundry basket in the reflection…at least they’re clean clothes, right?)

Dylan loves: Swimming, his tools, Nutella, dancing in Sunday School, his “twolegwalk”, wearing jeans, saying prayers, doing everything Lainey does, Ni Hao Kailan, falling asleep in the van.
Dylan hates: Eating a full meal, riding in a stroller, not getting his way, sleeping under blankets, taking a nap, doughnuts.

9 months…it’s flown by, and at the same time I’m amazed it’s not been longer.

Love ya, goofy boy.

The title? This is the line-up of grades this year at the Generations Christian Academy. What a range! Can I DO algebra one minute and colors the next?! My brain could seriously explode. Or, at least feel a little woozy.

We began our school year last Wednesday, with the first day at our new homeschool co-op, Pathway. If I was on top of things, I would have gotten a picture. But, given I had to get 6 kids out of the house before 8am…I totally forgot about the camera. But, the good news is they had all of their books, lunches, and shoes. Makes me glad our co-op is only ONE day a week.

Co-op is going to be great…all the kids enjoyed their classes (all core classes, writing, history and science) and I loved my work assignments. I help in the nursery first hour, have the next hour free (which I spend some with the trips, helping them memorize books of the bible and timeline cards), assist with the middle school history class 3rd hour, and then do story-time in Lainey and Dylan’s class. Which, incidentally, only has 1 other student besides my two. Our co-op has about 30 families involved, so it’s big enough to have good class sizes (the science class for middle and lower high school grades has about 20 kids in it) but it’s small enough for the kids to build relationships with each other. Love it.

So, because I was a slacker and didn’t get 1st day co-op pics, here are a few from the next couple of days…

In her favorite red chair, reading up on post civil-war history.

Payton’s nemesis…math.

Back to history…

Ethan working on a typing CD

The newest students at our academy…Lainey works on writing and numbers, and Dylan practices his lines.

Here’s to our new year…may God direct our learning as always!

We visited a very popular kid’s museum in Charlotte this past Saturday. We’d been meaning to go for some time – we have a membership card that works for both the NC zoo and a lot of museums here – but, hadn’t managed to find an empty Saturday yet! Such is life in our household…

We had a great time. Tons of hands on activities, an Imax movie about Tornadoes (which made me ever so happy that we do NOT live in tornado alley…), a wonderful cafe with healthy choices, animals to see and touch, etc. etc. Randy and I were acting like kids again, with all the fun stuff. We can’t wait to go back.

One thing about the trip that stood out to me – other than the fun of lying on a bed of nails and seeing everyday items magnified zillions of times – was the overall acceptance and belief in the theory of evolution across all of the exhibits.

Not that I expected any different. Go to ANY museum, anywhere in the US, and the placards under the displays will read “millions and millions of years…” (With the exception of the Creation Museum in Kentucky, which we plan on checking out one of these days)

There was a huge display of photographs…gorgeous photos…down a couple of hallways and most referred to evolution in some way.

You know what I see when I look at the marvels of science? The beauty in nature? The vastness of the universe? The amazing diversity in both animals and people? I see God. I see marvels like the sun and the smallest of intricacies like our fingerprints that only a caring and intelligent God could design.

You might see something else. And, that’s okay. But, I take great pleasure in marveling at our wonderful world and all that’s in it, and thank God for making it so beautiful and amazing – all for us to enjoy!

Just thought I’d share all that.

Now, here are more shots of our day…

Payton leaned against a wall and ended up with this behind his head. Typical.

Dylan had to have his picture taken with the “jingwa” (frog). We got to see this exact frog and his friends gobble up bugs later that day.

Playing with air.

Jump on seats, see how far the ball in the tube will go. After I snapped this, an employee explained that you’re supposed to SIT on the seats and jump. Oops, I guess my kids are over-achievers ;)

They wanted to pose with the platypus…proof that God most definitely has a sense of humor.

Ewwww….I don’t care how fresh your manicure is, this microscope hides nothing!

Lainey makes a little friend.

Dylan makes a bigger one.

A rope bridge in the rainforest area. We saw gorgeous birds, very hungry frogs that I mentioned earlier, and bright green geckos.

These were just plain weird…little fish-worms that popped up and down out of their little hole homes. lol…

This area of the museum was such fun…lots of hands on contraptions to demonstrate principles of science. Loved it! One of our favs was the bed of nails display. We all had to try it. Lie on the bed, which is made of plexiglass punched with holes. Underneath, a bed of sharp nails that rises up once you push the button. Very interesting sensation to say the least!

They did protect your head, though. Dylan’s face says it all.

Yes, I’m posting all the kids pictures on the nails.

I turned the camera up to the mirror ceiling here.

Whew, you made it. No more nails.

Abbey shows her strength by pulling her own weight up. They had hard, harder, and hardest choices. See what she chose?

Lainey really gets into her job. This set had cranks and pulleys that kept the motions going…tiny plastic beads making their way up, down, and back again.

Our last stop was fun for the big kids. They provided little toys and other items, a computer with a camera, and a small set. We made stop-action films! It was a lot of fun. Randy and I made one using our hands creeping towards each other, and then his hand ate mine. Heh.

Thanks for letting me share our day…

It’s that time of year. When I’m buying school books and supplies…organizing school schedules…re-vamping how we do house responsibilities, etc. etc. During all this flurry of activity, I tend to also look at things that I’ve been slack on or missed in the past. Things like…

Let’s just call this the “things my boys should know by now but somehow fell through the cracks” book. They’ve jumped right into reading it. It looks very formal, but it’s not. Written for teens, it’s engaging and funny – but touches on all those areas that make moms swoon…how to pay a compliment, take a phone message, accept an apology. I love the chapters titled “knowing when to keep your mouth shut” and “how to act in places where you are bored”. I’m already seeing an increase in “yes ma’am” and “thank you”. I may have to write this author a thank you note….guess I should make sure to read THAT chapter beforehand.

Speaking of chores, I did something new this year. Rather than making my own charts, I ordered them from www.creativechanges.com Can’t wait for them to arrive – they include charts for the bigs, charts with pics for the littles, and charts for me to help keep all those balls in the air. Heh heh. I’ve already cleared off the side of the fridge in anticipation.

This falls under the category of “things I neglected to teach my kids through the years and I hope it’s not too late”. Abbey may be a lost cause, but we’ll see. Not sure why typing (i.e. correct positioning) escaped me. Guess I’m not the perfect homeschool mom.

Oh my.

On to the next item.

“Mom must make time for reading all the books my friends recommend” And, this one comes highly reviewed. It’s full of real-life stories of Chinese women. Not what the government has told them to say, but the stories of their lives and the choices they’ve made – or been forced to make. I expect lots of tissues with this one.

Right now, I’m reading Red Scarf Girl, by Ji-Li Jiang. An autobiography, it details her life as a young girl during the Cultural Revolution. I’ve become more interested in that time period, after reading Lisa See’s “Dreams of Joy”. Oh my, that was such a wonderful book! And, it opened my eyes to just how horrific the effects of Mao’s ideas and policies really were. And, made me want to read more about it – even though the details can be absolutely heart wrenching.

A few things I felt like sharing…feel free to tell me your “must haves” for this upcoming year! I’d love to add them to my list…

Thought I’d do the mom thing this week, and find some fun recipes to try out with the kids.

First it was Slime, made with glue – water – borax – food coloring. Made this with the littles. They enjoyed making it, but in the end, Dylan wouldn’t touch the stuff. At least not until the water was absorbed and it was more like silly putty.

Yesterday, we got out the cornstarch – water – food coloring and made Goo. That’s the “official name” on the website. This was a huge hit with Marley and Ethan. Lainey loved it. Dylan…wouldn’t touch it.

It was the strangest stuff! It behaved like a liquid, as long as you played with it slowly. If you pushed down quickly on it, it acted like a solid and was VERY thick. It was a blast!

We started neatly, with everyone’s goo in a bowl. It didn’t stay that way.

I didn’t take an “after” picture, when they were all done. I should have. The cornstarch turns back into it’s powder form when the stuff dries, and the table was covered! And, around Lainey’s seat, so was the floor and her chair. Thankfully, it cleaned up really easily.

I guess this is my way of clinging to summer just a little bit longer before we start school and homeschool co-op next week. I’m looking forward to our new year…1 preschooler, 1 kindergartner, 3 8th graders, and 1 10th grader. But, there’s definitely something about having free days that are very appealing.

Did I mention in my last post that we decided to bring a little of Florida back with us? The boys friend, Nate, hitched a ride back to NC and spent this last week with us. Lainey and Dylan were almost more excited than the boys were – Nate LOVES our littles and showers them with tons of attention and love. He’ll make a great daddy one day.

What did we spend our week doing? Lots of boating…

Played some games (Kylie, Marley’s friend, was with us that day)

The boys played a fair amount (ha) of computer and video games. They also kayaked, fished off the dock, rode bikes, laid in the hammock, played football, and ate an enormous amount of food. Nate eats about twice what our boys do. Easily.

Nate joined us when we went bowling with our new homeschool co-op, went with the kids to youth group Wednesday night, and finished off his week getting no sleep at ALL at a middle school Lock In last night.

Did you have tons of fun, Nate?

Lining them up for a few last pictures proves to be harder than I thought.

Guys

Gals (aren’t they pretty?)

Everyone but Abbey. She slept over at a friend’s house last night.

One last hug before heading to the Lock In.

Glad you could hang out with us, Nate! See you on our next trip to FL.

It’s great to be home, but we loved our time in Florida! We will always go back to Jax, our second home.

We moved the kids out of church on Friday – it was beyond hot. 1000% humidity and about 96 degrees. That’s one part of Florida living I do NOT miss. We drove the kids back to the condo, dropped off their bags, let them jump in the pool for about 15 minutes to cool off, and then drove them back to church for Power Surge.

Move over, Superman. We’ve got the real superhero :)

The highlight for Lainey was having her hair sprayed with lots of pretty colors!

Dylan just wanted to get WET! All the slides, etc. involved water. Great idea, since it was HOT. Have I mentioned that?

Lainey loved the water slides, but was a bit concerned it would wash out her color. Such a girl.

Dylan gets a little help from Abigail.

Our kids love their friend Nate…in fact, we decided to bring him back to NC with us. He’s here till Saturday. Everyone is happy to have him here!

After Power Surge, we loaded the kids into the van (Nate, and Abbey’s friend Angelina too) and headed back to the condo in St. Augustine. We were just in time for swimming at the pool, and a quick night-time walk on the beach. (I stayed back to put the littles in bed).

Morning came quickly, and the big kids needed a little more beach time before check-out time at 10am. Randy obliged them and brought along the camera.

After driving Angelina home, we began our trip back to NC. No one got sick, not much traffic, kids did great. Uneventful, which is the best kind of drive!

Now, as expected, school is right around the corner and I’m holding back the panic. Lots of do to get prepared, where exactly did summer go?!? :)