Courtney Turned 7

I don't know where the time has gone. She had a party at the movie theatre with some girlfriends from school. They got to watch "Hotel for Dogs" (very cute) and had cake and ice cream in the "party room". As it turned out they were having a Hotel For Dogs fun day with lots of games and activities. Some people actually thought it was for Courtney, of course I didn't say a word LOL.



COurtney went to a sleepover at a friends after the party and had a great time. My little social butterfly. She really is turning into a great girl.She works very hard in school, makes friends pretty easily, tries to be kind to everyone and makes us proud.
Happy Birthday Courty!

2009 is here!

The Friday before Christmas was an exciting one....here is what happens when a Town & Country collides with a deer at 45 mile an hour And a bit of the fur left...... Needless to say...I did NOT see it coming and it scared the you-know-what out of us. Courtney was ok about it but Liann was very angry for a few days. After I told her it was a deer we hit she said "Great! There goes more nature!". If that wasn't bad enough, she listed all the things I have killed from turtles I did not see in the road until it was too late to the gecko (who knew you couldn't put a toad in the cage with a gecko?!?!?!) So now the car is in the shop while I drive a rental. Of course....no rental coverage was a real bummer this close to Christmas. Then it was Christmas! Liann was an angel in her class Christmas program. Her class also "sang" "Silent Night" in sign language...I hope the video publishes ok...it was beautiful We survived Christmas. Poor Jackson was completely overwhelmed and it took him all day to open his gifts. I think the girls tore through theirs in a matter of minutes! So.....Courtney's big exciting gift was a microscope (a pink one!) and Liann's was........ KODA the Triceratops. SO now....in addition to a BIG horse in my house (that freaks me out with his snorts and movements) we have a HUGE adorable triceratops. It's my favorite time of year and it didn't dissapoint this year.... the kids really do make it fun.

What a weekend!

Friday Night was Courtney's school's Lower School Winter Concert.The chorus is comprised of children in K-5th grade and they were fabulous! This is Courty singing "All I Want for Christmas is my Two Front Teeth" which, in fact, are missing!




There was also an art show at the school, and Courty had a picture on display....






Saturday night we went to our neighbors party. She is a HUGE Christmas fanatic and every year Santa makes a stop! Liann was the only one of my children brave enough to visit with Santa



Then Sunday I was looking out in the back 40 and what a sight! We had some visitors.
Apparently someone shot 2 deer and didn't want them so they brought them to my brothers house. He gutted them in the field and so we had a bunch of turkey buzzards, a red fox, and a bald eagle stopping by. It was very entertaining. Courtney said "I love living near the woods"

catching up

We made it through Thanksgiving. It was very nice to have Lynda here and I hope she enjoyed herself as much as we enjoyed having her around.Jackson helped her peel potatoes while Courtney tried her hand at mashing them. Of course, Jackson had to throw one.....

And another thing I'm learning is that boys are WAY different than girls. Jackson is rough, he likes to throw things, he jumps off everything and is always surrounded by a mess. He does things I don't understand...with bologna, which he loves. That being said my little boy, that the orphanage director said was a "very quiet boy" and the guide called her to make sure he was ok because he didn't speak or do much of anything.....he loves life. He is joyful and funny and energetic and I adore every exhausting bone in his body. I admit, I'm glad when 7:30 rolls around and he's down for the night.

Sunday was FUNday

After church Sunday we went to Chuck E Cheese with some friends. They are moving and this has my girls very upset. They had a great time together, they devoured a large cheese pizza, played games, and decided to combine all their tickets and split them 4 ways. We are really sorry to see this family leave but will keep in touch.
As the girls played together Jackson spent the entire time on 1 ride....the Barney car. He would just yell for me to come over and give him more tokens to make it go. I've never seen anything like it.

One of my fave pics

Here is Jackson....near the end of the day...this boy does everything with GUSTO! He plays hard and crashes hard. I was a bit surprised by the half eaten cookie, he usually will finish food. The Moms at Liann's school enjoy him in the morning..he practically BURSTS out of the car yelling "HI!" to everyone he sees.

Fall has come and gone....

And I have yet to update the blog... what a terrible person! The kids started school....even Jackson goes 1 morning a week. I can honestly say all 3 are enjoying school, even Liann (and I had my concerns). We are fortunate that all 3 of our children attend private school. I wasn't sure what I was going to do with Courtney until the week before school started but God stepped in and she goes to a VERY nice school. She is learing so much and even started having spelling tests 2 weeks ago.

Jackson continues with speech therapy and my battle with the insurance company (they weren't covering his s/t after the age of 3) is about over. I got a call from the insurance company stating they had reviewed their policy (after a call on our behalf from the attorney general) and were now going to cover it *whew*
In the meantime we are using sign language and he is sommunicating very well. I plan on enrolling him in PreK in the fall.

Liann is still our sensitive one... she is becoming proud of her "chinese-ness" and is asking lots of questions. She enjoys looking back through her "baby" things but feels sad for her ayi at the orphnage.

For Halloween Jackson was a very dashing Captain Hook, Liann a dinosaur (of course) and Courtney was a pilgrim (go figure). I'll post the photos soon....

Now we are preparing for Thanksgiving (w/out mommom & poppop)and then on to Christmas. We are very excited about Jackson's first Christmas home.
More to come....