Why We Don't Have Girls

Try as he might, A is not interested in the Buzz Lightyear or any of the Thomas trains that Gavin has brought over to entertain her...

Girls are SO complicated.  Bah.

Humidity

Can you tell it is almost summer here?

Fail TWICE

So...remember when I forgot to paint the big rock outside the school for Ian's birthday?  And I promised that I would put his name on it when it was Chase's birthday, so that they could share the birthday-rock wishes?

I had it on my calendar.  I knew it had to be done.  Time just ran away and we got super busy with Easter and company and making Grandma Maddex's coffee cakes.

And I forgot.

Chase is FOUR!

Happy birthday to my wild man, Chase!

You surprise us every day with good things (you recognize the written names of your classmates!!!  YIPPEE!) and crazy things (PLEASE stop acting out the part in Toy Story 3 when Woody runs on the toilet paper roll and unravels the whole thing...!).

You are sweet, sensitive, and kind.  You are stubborn, independent, and determined.

You love dirt and mulch, water play, Toy Story, and jumping on the beds.  You are Guy's best friend.  You are famous at school.

You make us laugh, sigh, and shake our heads.

We love you so much!

We all scream...

Research tells us fourteen out of any ten individuals likes chocolate.  ~Sandra Boynton

 Ice cream is happiness condensed.  ~Jessi Lane Adams

 My advice to you is not to inquire why or whither, but just enjoy your ice cream while it's on your plate.  That's my philosophy.  ~Thornton Wilder

 Ice cream cravings are not to be taken lightly.  ~Betsy Cañas Garmon,

 Without ice cream, there would be darkness and chaos.  ~Don Kardong

 We dare not trust our wit for making our house pleasant to our friend, so we buy ice cream.  ~Ralph Waldo Emerson

Spring Break: Day 3

I spent the morning watching the kids on the patio in the baby pool as I finished up some bits and pieces of our dossier.  We had a few items to fax in to be checked before getting them apostilled, which I had, but just needed to get Bryan to sign and have notarized.  I also wrote letters to our Congressional reps and downloaded all the release forms so that we can *possibly* get our immigration forms expedited before Danil's country changes the adoption process in June.  Praying, praying, praying, that someone can help us out...otherwise we won't get that form back for another 70 days or so :(

We took a field trip to Bryan's office and then back again for naps.

Ian and the Larsens and Samantha (other next door neighbor) played in the sprinkler, while Chase decided not to nap.  He eventually convinced me to let him out of his room and out to play with the bigs.  I love sprinkler photos, so I took a thousand, even sacrificing my dry clothes to get them:

 Awwww :)  Look!  A flower...!

 STOMP THE FLOWER GAME!!!  (boys.  sheesh.)

 I love the history of this post- the same kids sharing the same fun, but 3 years ago.  We're going on 5 years of sprinkler memories here.  Awesome :)

OK- time to get the kids in dry clothes and make a run to the $1 ice cream cone stand :)

Spring Break: Day 2

Our favorite babysitter Kelsey came to watch the kids this morning while I took Chase to his first gymnastics class.  One of the moms in our DSAC group gives a free class at her gym for kids with disabilities every week.  We're going to try to make it regularly, even pulling Chase from school on Tuesday mornings so that he can go.  At our IEP meeting, the teachers/therapists recommended starting him in a structured class to work on behavior/attention while playing up his strengths (gross motor).  So we'll see.

He was undecided at the class on whether or not he liked it.  Things he enjoyed:
*Swinging from the rings
*Jumping on the trampoline
*Walking the beam
*Jumping into the foam pit

Things he hated:
*Um, following directions of any kind

Yeah.  This is gonna be a lot of work on my part, I can tell now.

Later, we packed our lunches and headed to the playground at the kids' school with the Larsens.  They monkeyed around, made each other sick on the tire swings, and perhaps got a little sunburned.  Chase and Gavin spread popcorn and grapes all over the ground.  Thanks, guys.

We went from there to Target (with 4 boys who have not had naps- livin' on the WILD SIDE, baby!!) and then straight to the pediatrician's for Ian's 6 year well check.

Stats:
Ht: 45 1/4 (50%)
Wt: 45.6 (25-50%)
BP: 98/70
BMI: 16

Didn't know that they did BMI stats regularly for kids.  Interesting.

We met Bryan at home, who took over dinner while I got ready for Corey's baby shower.  A perfect end to the day- sitting outside on the patio with a Yueng-ling in a sundress with my friends- sooo relaxing.