Memorial Day

In honor of all veterans and especially my dad and our neighbor A, who just passed. Both my father and A served in the Korean war.

This photo is of A, when he was younger with his red dobie. We had his service yesterday. I made a strawberry rhubarb coffee cake from the rhubarb that I transplanted from his new place last year.

Today we went to his home and planted 1000 periwinkles. He had ordered them and they arrived to him home this past Friday, so the girls and I planted them where he had intended.

Today

is a sad day. Our old neighbor and good friend A (far left) passed away. He was 83 years old and we will miss him dearly.

Yesterday

was Mim's 14th birthday. Her party will be held on Sunday, June 5th.....Last night we went shopping and she picked out a 2 skirts, 1 shirt, and nail polish. She wanted a MP3 player, but we quickly found out that any player worth purchasing was way out of our price range. She decided to earn money this summer to buy one for next year. She has a job working at a friend of mine for 3 - 4 hours once each month, plus our neighbor (and my co-worker) has offered her the job of cutting grass and little upkeep while they are out of town this summer. So she should have no problem earning the money. Friends at school decorated her locker for her birthday. I have pictures but I need to download them. My oldest is getting older......:(

New Van

We picked up (purchased low price) a new used 2003 Ford Windstar Van on Thursday. So we were able to return Kiki's car back to him....finally, but I am still waiting for my Fed. Tax Return.....All I can figure is the Gov. figures that since we adoptive parents are already use to waiting for what we really want, they figured they would string this return out as long as they can....all this figuring makes my head hurt!!!

2:48

Mim ran a 2:48 in the conference track meet last night. Only 7 - 7th grade girls qualified to compete in the meet. She did great this season, and we did find out that she is not competitive at any distance shorter than a 400. She made a lot of friends in the track season, and I can tell she really enjoyed it more than her other sports. I think it was partly due to her feeling more comfortable with all the changes she has experienced in the last 1-1/2 years. I like the characters of the girls she is befriending too.

And as of today, we only have 13 days left of this school year..

Mim's ESL

Mim's ESL report after home 1-1/2 years. Quite a difference a year makes when you compare it to Ve's. I don't remember receiving Ve's last year and if I did, I think it was pretty comparable.




On another note I did hear today that I was granted the 5000.00 dollars for one of the grants I had written. Yeah!!

O behaviors and other stuff

Calling for sunny weather all week...can't help but love that.

Mim has two track meets this week and then track will be finished and she will have a break from sports for a while. She is learning to balance sports, academics and friends. Lately a few of her grades have slipped because her friendship quota has gone up and so has her social behavior thereby negatively affecting her grades....so we are now talking about the fact that it is great to have a social circle, BUT she needs to learn to balance it with her other responsibilities....so much much to learn.

This past weekend was a little rough with Ve. We have good weekends and then rough ones. For some reason we we struggling alot with listening to me etc., again...I will breathe easier when I know that Ve will make the correct choices based on the values I have taught her even if I am NOT present. She is so easily influenced by others...so easily, to the point where she will do something wrong if a friend or sister tells her to do something, even tho she knows she should not. I guess maturity will help, but I am ever aware that I missed out on nearly 5 years of teaching values of right and wrong..So the O behaviors reared their ugly heads once again.

Saturday Activity

Ve attended her soccer game, she scored two goals and the coach came up to me after and stated enthusiastically "Boy, I love having Ve on my team, our score was down and with her two goals we won the game"

Tuki attended her first guitar lesson, it will be slow moving, but she wants to learn any and all things musical, so we attend. I will be learning as much as her since I have to help her practice thru the week.

I feel it is very important to support my kids in their interests, to help them find their passions. Having a passion is what makes life so much more enjoyable. I have seen adults still wandering, not knowing what they are really passionate about, and it seems like it is much harder and less joyful than those who know what they love and pursue what they love. This does make us very busy at times, but still I think it is still worth it.

AND....let the drum roll begin....Mim and I finished putting up the new chicken run....and boy the chickens are sure passionate about being outside...finally!!! :) photos to follow later.

Sick, yet blessed

very sick, Me & Ve for several weeks now...that cold/flu/allergy? who knows what the H@@@ it is crud. It keeps you up at night due to coughing and sore throat and isolated by day again due to the coughing,and sore throat (you don't want to talk too much)...everyone is afraid to be around you for fear they may catch it....

on a highlight...Mim ran the 1600 in 6:33 last Thursday, and then she came back and ran a 6:23 last night...she is getting quite fast!!Fun to watch too!!

Ve won her soccer game last Saturday and Tuki attended her first classmate birthday party!!

BUT best of all today is Tuki's 5th year anniversary of coming HOME to us!!
We celebrated with a dinner out and ice cream.

Tuki at 6 months old, 2 weeks after homecoming.




Photos of Tuki when she was 2 months old. The first time I met her.

Group Photo after Tuki's dance Recital last weekend

A, Ve, Mim, Grandma J & Tuki

Ve's ESL

Ve's recent evaluation of her ESL. Doing great, especially since she is only 2 1/2 years home. Now that she is officially rated with a over all score of 3, I can request to have her evaluated for learning disabilities. I was told last fall, that I could request her to be evaluated, but since her overall rating was only a 2, her lack processing skills would be attributed to her ESL and not to a learning disability. I had to wait until her overall rating was a 3. So, now I will make a formal request again. I guess second grade isn't hat big of a step up in academics, but third grade is and if Ve has a learning disability, I want to get the services in place so that she has the help that she needs. A child that is struggling with learning, is a frustrated child who wants nothing to do with school or learning...I would like to prevent all this as early as possible.