School work and a doll stroller

On Sunday, I came home from a weekend away and Emily was so excited to show me the project that she made at school. She comes home with a little something each day, but they work on a "big"project all week. She was so proud of it. We've been workin on coloring and staying inside the lines. As you can sort of see, she's doing ok in that department. I think the next thing, is handling scissors and actually cutting things. School is really helping her coordination. She has been receiving 1:1 physical therapy from the therapist at school and that is really starting to show. Also, she's seems to have had a word explosion. I can't believe how much more of a vocabulary that she has. I'm sure it helps to have a brother that has about a 500 word vocabulary. She and Louie sing the ABC's and count to 25 at the table all the time. They both are doing well with identifying their colors too. They are little sponges!

On the potty training scene, Emily is doing so well. She's has about one "accident" a day. She is dry in the morning about six days a week and runs to her potty to go first thing. We're so proud of her and the improvements that she's made. Now, is she would just figure out the #2 part of potty training. We'd all be so happy, especially Dan.

Sunday night, Louie was doing everything he could to irritate Emily. So, he climbed into the doll stroller to watch The Wonder Pets before we read stories and headed off to bed. Emily decided that she wasn't going to get mad, she just pushed him around the house. It was pretty funny!

Same book, different day

We celebrated Nicole's 21st birthday tonight. I can't believe she is 21, how did she become 21 already? When I met Nicole, she was a 12 year old that was going on 21. We've had our ups and downs over the years. I am so thankful that since becoming an adult, she has also become her own person and Dan, Emily, Louie and I are a part of her life.

Now the birthday party is over and I'm getting ready to go away for the weekend. Dan is giving Nicole a ride home and I just got done reading Emily her most favorite book in the world.

Emily LOVES Peter. She loves "The Snowy Day," but she loves Peter's Chair more. Auntie M gave Emily Peter's Chair when Louie was born, what a fitting book? Ever since, we have had to read that book for naps and bed time. A friend from work has a little boy named Peter and Emily was so confused, she didn't understand that someone else could have that name. When she goes to bed and the book isn't there, she asks for "Peter" every night.

Funny, the Ezra Jack Keats books were my favorites when I was a kid. The Snowy Day was my favorite.

Emily's Favorites:
Peter's Chair

Fisher Price Piggy Bank

American Baby Bitty Twins

her puppy and doggie

Louie's Favorites:

Gordon (from Thomas and Friends)

any truck

bananas

anything that is currently in Emily's hands

Emily's doll buggy

Sid the Science Kid

She's HOME!!!

Sara, Charlotte and her parents returned home from Guatemala last night. Charlotte was asleep, I guess she was meant to be a traveller. She slept pretty much the whole way home. I wonder if she slept last night in her new house?? She's such a beautiful little girl, she's already got Grandpa and Grandpa wrapped around her finger . . . It was fun to see them come home. Welcome home Charlotte!!!

Some pictures from Bailey's pony party

We all had a fun time yesterday at the pony party!

The Pony Party

We went to Bailey's Pony Party today. It was icky weather outside, but the pony still came to give all the kids rides. I thought that Emily and Louie would have been a little more resistant to going on the horsey. . . . not so much. They really liked it.

All the kids got to go two times. The first time down the block, the horse had a fly and shook off. Nathan didn't like that and wanted nothing to do with Dusty for the rest of the party.

First Louie went for a ride. I asked him and he said "ummmm, no thank you." But Dennis picked him up and put him on and he loved it. They went down the street and back.

When Louie's turn was over, Emily got on for a ride. She liked it too! I was totally shocked. She was so proud of herself.

After the pony rides, there was a pinata, the kids had fun trying to pull the string to break it open. Finally, a shower of candy fell to the hungry hands below.

I'll post pictures tomorrow. Tonight, it's off to the airport to welcome Sara and Charlotte home from Guatemala! Yeah!

the most dangerous recipe in the world . . .

My sister just sent me an e-mail with this recipe attached. She thought that maybe Dan would like it for a little afternoon snack . . . why yes, we would love this recipe. Who else doesn't need a whole pan of brownies sitting around begging to be eaten the day they are made?

5 Minute Chocolate Mug Cake (Hello, a mug!) perfect size for self gratification . . .

4 T flour
4 T sugar
2 T cocoa powder
1 egg
1 T milk
3 T oil
3 T chocolate chips (it says optional?? but really, optional for who???)
a splash of vanilla extract
1 coffee mug (16 oz.)

put dry ingredients in mug and mix well
add egg and mix thoroughly
pour in milk and oil, mix well
add (optional) chocolate chips, vanilla and mix.
microwave for 3 minutes on high.
the cake will rise over the top of the mug, but don't be alarmed!
allow to cool a little and tip onto a plate or if you can't wait that long, eat right out of the mug.

Note: this will serve 2 (yeah, right) if you want to share, or 1 and you'll have enough for later (no chance)

So, make this little slice of heaven when you're in need of a chocolate fix. Leave a comment and let me know how it turns out. Remember, I haven't made this one (yet!). But plan to . . .

Quick update

Emily's Second Day of School

Dan is happy to report that Emily very happily got on the bus and had a really good day today. She also came home in the same clothes that she left in, which means that she didn't have an accident at school!
We're slowly, but surely getting there with the potty training. slowly being the key word . . .

Home from school

I just love the beauty of fall flowers. Out with the geraniums and in with the mums in the window boxes on Sunday. We picked up this lovely bushel basket arrangement at Gerten's last week. It is so pretty.
Changing the subject, Emily came home from school today and got off the bus all smiles. She also made it through school without wetting her pants! HUGE yeah for us. . . .
She loved school, is totally overtired and is in bed trying to fall asleep right now. We're actively pushing up bedtime to 7pm. She is exhausted when she gets home from school and needs to get 12-13 hours of sleep, especially since she more than likely won't be taking a nap.
Here's a little video of her getting off the bus.

First day of school!

Today is Emily's first day of school. She was very excited to go and see her friends, especially Emmett.

Mary, the bus aid, said that Emmett got on the bus and told her that he wanted Emily to sit next to him when they got to her house. Isn't that sweet? They have seen each other a couple times this summer at church. Emmett's family goes to Assumption too.

Well, all was fine until they got her hooked up to her seatbelt contraption. It is a different type of bus than last year. They had built in child restraints on that one. This year, the kids have to put on a "vest" and the vest is attached to the bus seat. I guess it's safe? I don't blame her for crying, putting that thing on .

But she's off to school and hopefully, keeping her pants dry and having fun with her new friends. Oh, and Louie was carrying on on the front lawn because he wanted to go on the bus too. Maybe Emily was sympathy crying for him? Who knows, she was not a happy girl.

Finally!

For those of you that have been following along, Sara FINALLY got her baby yesterday.
She's beautiful and has been incredibly loved by the foster family that has cared for her for the past year.
I am so happy for Sara that her journey to Charlotte has finally ended. But now the real journey begins. What a wonderful journey that will be.
Check out pix at Sara's blog.

So excited!!!

Ever since we got our digital SLR camera a year and a half ago, I have been in search of a class to teach me how to use it. Yes, we paid a lot of money for the camera and now have really invested in some good quality "glass" and I was using it on the full auto mode??? It drove Dan nuts when I used the "green box" mode. I graduated to the AV mode (still don't know what it means) last winter. Now, I needed to know what I was doing.
My ultimate goal was to have really nice pictures to scrapbook. I figured that I spend a lot of time and money on scrapbooking and what is the point with the crappy pictures that we were getting from the point and shoot. I also got so tired of missing that one picture because of the focusing delay of the stupid point and shoot.
In July, I came across a website that had a link to The Photographers' Workshop by Karen Russell. I read some reviews from past and current participants and then found the class description. I knew that this was the class for me. On-line??? what could be better than that for me? the internet junkie. . . Well, Karen posted an announcement on her blog back in July announcing two new class offerings. I figured that they would fill up as fast as they did before and I would never have a chance. I added a reminder to Outlook to remind me to register. I am a TOTAL loser and entered the registration time as eastern time and really it was pacific time. I was 2 hours early (but would have been late if I wasn't a moron.) So, I sat on a training session at work for 3 hours today and kept going to the registration page.
The registration page was out there at 10:59 am on my computer and I completed the registration form by 11:00am and I got in!!!!
I just read on Karen's blog and all the classes were filled up in 2 minutes, yes I said TWO!
But, I can't wait for November to start taking this class. Unfortunately, it doesn't start until November 17. . .

Potty Training

On Saturday, Louie was shipped off to Lynch's house for the day and Emily worked on potty training the whole day.
She did so well! We have been working with her for several weeks now and she just wasn't catching on. The key for successful training is that your child have the awareness of when they actually have the urge to go.
Saturday, we tackled Toilet Training in Less than a Day. I read a bunch of info on the interet about it. It has very positive reviews and also a few negative ones. I made an assumption of life at the homes that the people who wrote the negative ones and determined that the parenting style was totally different than how Dan and I parent.
Anyhow, we started the day by having Emily teach her dolly how to use the potty and keep her pants dry. Emily then is praised for keeping her own pants dry . . . and so on.
She did keep her pants dry the whole day and used the potty four times throughout the day.
Yesterday, we had to pick up where we left off and I was met with much resistence. But, we overcame that by praising her, etc. She finally is understanding the feeling of when she has to use the potty, now it is having her figure out how to allow herself enough time to get there.
We had Lynch's for dinner last night and Emily came in the house from playing with all the kids, needing to go to the potty, but didn't make it in time. She's catching on!
Today, she got right out of bed, went and sat on her potty and went!
I let her teachers at school know where we're at in the process. I'm hoping that tomorrow, when she goes to school she will be motivated by all the other kids that are trained and want to go regularly. Until then, no diapers, just tons of laundry. Can tennis shoes go in the washing machine???
Dan and the kids are going to their first day of ECFE for the year. Emmy and Louie were so excited to get back to class and see their friends and sing songs with Todd and his guitar. They love circle time!
Emily finally has her first day of school tomorrow, she can hardly wait for the school bus to come and get her to take her to pre-school!

Tickled PINK!

UPDATE: Sara, her parents and friends leave for Guatemala on Sunday afternoon and return next Friday afternoon!

I am thrilled to report that my friend Sara is, as she put it "tickled PINK!"
She has received her PINK slip for her adoption of Charlotte Mary. Her appointment is Tuesday, September 9 at 7:15am at the US Embassey in Guatemala City! Yes, you're reading that correctly. That is next Tuesday, six days from now.
Sara and her entourage will be departing sometime this weekend for Guatemala and probably be returning on Thursday or Friday next week with Charlotte.
We are all so happy for her! Finally, an end to all the madness.
Good thing she came over last night so I could give her a lesson on properly installing her carseat! She'll need it next week!
Yeah!

The Minnesota State Fair

We went to the fair on Friday. It was so much fun! My nephew, Patrick came with us and we all had a blast! We got there about 8:30am and parked in the lot up by Machinery Hill. First on the list, The Little Farm Hands. The kids had so much fun in there and Patrick was a big help.

Next, we met up with Mary and Bill Lynch; shhhh, they didn't tell their kids they were going to the fair . . . We headed to the St. Bernard's Dining Hall for a quick breakfast (nothing big, just something to tie us over until the Foot Long Hot Dog stand opened up!)

After breakfast, we went to the Education Building to check out my niece, Katie's artwork. She won a red ribbon for her age group. Patrick was very proud to show off his sister's drawing.

While we were roaming around the Creative Arts Building, there were all the award winning recipes, etc. We came across this SPAM sponsored contest. We came up with a great idea for Hormel, they need to crown a SPAM princess, like Princess Kay of the Milky Way . . . Princess Pam with her head carved in SPAM. . . . I guess we thought it was funny at the time. When we were done in the Education and Creative Arts Building, we headed over to the Miracle of Birth Center to check out the baby farm animals. There was a litter of piglets being born when we were in there. The sow was on number 2 when we arrived and was on number 7 when we left. I wonder how many there ended up being? There was a calf, Clint (he was 89 pounds at birth) that was only 8 hours old when we were there. It was so cute, he stood up for the first time when we were there . . . he had those wobbly legs. Those poor momma cows, they can labor for up to three days after the calf is born to pass all the other gunk . . . She was still panting. The kids loved to see the cows, the sheep and the pigs.

After the baby animals, we went to check out the horses. (we're invited to our friend, Bailey's 3rd birthday party and there will be pony rides) I wanted Emily and Louie to see the horses, maybe they'll ride the pony at the birthday party??? The horses were just OK.

We finally got to consume some "fair" food and walk through the Grandstand. Man, that place is like one big infomercial.

On our way out, we stopped off in the Kidway to see if they were interested in going on a ride or two. Emily kept pointing to the ferris wheel, so that is what we went on. Of course, we were the first to load into one of the cars . . . so, we had to stop and go all the way around, until everyone was loaded on. Emily did NOT like sitting at the very top, Patrick did his best to keep her happy. Louie on the other hand, loved it. He got to see the tractors and the airplanes all in one place. After the ferris wheel, Dan and Patrick took the kids on the carousel. Emily wanted to go again . . .

We were all exhausted when we left and couldn't wait to get home. Of course, no one took a nap once we got home. HUGE bummer. . . .