The Most Wonderful TIme of the Year

Usually in the mornings I am dragging myself out of bed, but NOT this morning. NO WAY! Can you guess what today was? It was the first day back to school. Whoooo Hooooo!!! Now, don't get me wrong, I LOVE my kids, LOVE having them home, and LOVE spending time with them, but I also LOVE that after a few months home ALL day EVERY day they get to go back to school. I am so looking forward to getting back into a daily routine. Not only was I ready for them to go back, but they were equally excited. They were ready to see their school friends, and believe it or not, my kids do like school and are very good students.



~BLAKE~
Blake is 12 (almost 13) and in the 7th grade this year. He is most excited about being able to officially play football and basketball for the school. Last year he played, but was not play FOR the school. He is obsessed with everything football and is quite a good player. He will have football practice every day after school from 3:30-5:30. I am not 100% sure, but I don't think his first game is until September, so we are looking forward to going as a family to cheer him on. I am going to make some special outfits for Emma and Mylee to wear once I know what his number is.
Blake is still mowing lawns trying to save money to go to China. I did talk with his principal at registration about us taking him with us. He basically said that it is all up to Blake whether or not is considered an excused or unexcused absence. As long as he is a good student, does not cause any problems, and continues to get good graded he will be allowed to go and it will be an excused absence. I really don't think we will have anything to worry about.
Closer to the time of us leaving we are going to set up a blog for Blake to journal on while we are in China so his friends and schoolmates can keep up with what is going on. I also think it will be neat to have his perspective of the whole experience.
Oh, I forgot to mention that Blake is officially taller than me now. I am 5'7 and he was measured at football a few weeks ago and is 5'8. I did not think that my 12, almost 13 year old would be taller than me.




~EMMA~
Miss Emma is 7 and is starting the 2nd grade at a brand new school. Our district is growing by leaps and bounds so they built a new school practically in our backyard. Seriously, we can see the school from our house. Because we are so close, she is now walking to school. I will be honest in saying that I am not really looking forward to her walking, but at the same time it is literally around the corner, and we have several parents that have gotten together to make sure all the kids get to school safely.
Sunday evening they had an open house which was really nice because not only did we get to see the school, and meet the teachers, but we were able to take in all of her school supplies to lighten her load today. She was super excited when she found out that she had a locker. I on the other hand was quite surprised to see that ALL the grades (K-5th) had lockers. She is already asking if she can get a mirror, message board and some other decorations for her locker. I am in so much trouble...



Walking to school with Grandma




~GABE~
Gabe just turned 5 on August 5th and will be going to pre-school this year. He doesn't start until September 8th, but asks every day if it is his turn to go to school. He is such a sweet little boy and I am really going to miss not having him here in the mornings. He loves to play with the babies I watch and is so kind and gentle with them.


















~MYLEE~
Mylee will begin pre-school on Monday and is also excited. She is looking forward to seeing her teacher again and riding the bus. We ran into her teacher at registration and Mylee was so excited to show her how she can now sit criss-cross (something she was not able to do when she started school last spring). She is also now crawling, I mean really crawling. She is able to get on all fours and actually crawl like a baby. She moves her legs and all. Before she just used her upper body to "crawl" but now she is actually crawling. She is VERY proud of herself. I am so amazed at the progress she is making. She is such a blessing to our family in so may ways.

~DREW~
There is nothing really new to post on Drew. We are still able to talk to him through SKYPE every Sunday. He loves to sing to us and of course we love to hear him sing. He tells us about what he is learning in pre-school that day usually a letter, number, or color. He also has English lessons in the afternoon which is going to be such a benefit for us and him when we travel to bring him home. We have been asked if there is anything specific we want him to know. We suggested that they teach him to tell us if he is hungry, thirsty, and the obvious of having to use the restroom. I guess he is doing very well and is a very good student.

~MATT~
Matt is STILL laid off. He did talk with his boss the other day to find out if there was any work coming up. He was told that it is going to be at least a couple more weeks before they have anything. I know there are thousands of families in our situation right now, and it is not fun. Please pray for us and them that the economy turns around soon so we can all get back to work.

~MANDI~
I am excited about my daycare situation this year. I am waiting a 4 year old little girl that I have had since she was 9 months old, and three 1 year old little boys. Gabe and the little girl will be in pre-school three mornings a week (M,W,F), Mylee will also be in pre-school three days a week (M,T,TH) and with the schedule of the little boys, I will have one or two mornings a week when I will be pretty much alone. The little ones still nap in the morning and afternoon, so while they are napping in the morning I am hoping to get some of y homework done. Yes, I am taking classes this semester. I decided that with the adoption I am only going to take two classes this semester and next. This semester I am taking Abnormal Psych and Family Communication. I am actually excited because I have been wanting to take Abnormal Psych for a couple of semesters but it was already full by the time I registered.

I also have a couple of adoption fundraising projects in the works. For one, I will be making tutus for all the little ballerinas at Emma's dance studio this year. The owner and Emma's teacher has had me make a few other costumes in the past for recitals (just for Emma's class). So, this year I made up a couple of sample tutus to show her and lucky for me she LOVED. So instead of ordering the ballet costumes through a catalog this year, she will be ordering them through me. I have no idea how many I will be making, but am looking forward to the opportunity to earn some money for Drew's adoption.
I am also hoping to do some blog makeovers thanks to Rebecca. She came over one day and spent a couple of hours showing me how to make-over a blog. THANKS REBECCA. I have already done one makeover for my dear friend Tara and am in the process of doing another for a fellow bloggy friend (who I will reveal once it is done). So, with fall approaching, if you are wanting a new look, please e-mail me for all the details.


Thanks for sticking with me, I did not intend for this to be such a lengthy post, but I wanted to make sure that you were all updated to this point since it has been awhile since I have posted.