Jelly's Princess Party

Our beloved Jelly turned 2 and celebrated in grand princess style! The girls had a terrific time complete with jelly sandwiches (get it?), crowns and dress up shoes. Auntie did a terrific job with this sweet party.
Later in the day, we had a family dinner of Lola's amazing Filipino food. We are so thankful for our family and especially enjoyed honoring this precious girl.

My Beloved Nieces and Nephews

I'm cuckoo over my nieces and nephews, what a joy they are! All of the fun stuff, and little responsibility. And my kids are so blessed to get to grow up with their cousins, what sweet memories they'll have.

(Liv and Cruise Control are SuperDaddy's sister's kids and BJB and Jelly are my brother's kids.)

Liv- my first niece, a sensitive, insightful, creative soul

BJB- my first nephew, loves slapstick, is a realist, and so stylish

Cruise Control- my second nephew, stubborn, confident, and expressive

Jelly- my second niece, over the top wild woman, silly, and oh so funny

Fun on the Lake and Happy Birthday Auntie Jo!

On Monday, we got to go out in a big party boat on Norris Lake to celebrate Auntie Jo's 30th birthday. It was nice relaxing on the lake with my favorite people, we had so much fun! The only downside was that SuperDaddy had to work. :(

1. B was either sliding or tubing ALL DAY! And with his best buds, he's a happy boy.

2. Jelly and SJ catching a power nap.

3. Mamaw and Papaw relaxing.

4. Classic Jelly, this girl is a hoot!

5. 2 boys per tube.

A Big Week for SJ!

Our little SJ had a big week! We completed her readoption and celebrated her 3rd birthday!

For the readoption, we went to the courthouse on Tuesday and she's officially a US citizen.

And we celebrated her 3rd birthday on Saturday, complete with a flip-flop cake for our Flip Flop Bandit. We decided on a small family swim party, which was a good choice. SJ knew everyone well and had a blast. SuperDaddy took her out in his truck to pick out a toy while B and I decorated the room and her cake. She was so excited to go out with Daddy, just the 2 of them, and was even more excited to come home to the party. We had a great time, and enjoyed seeing SJ so happy. She is so loved, this sweet girl!

Teaching Friendship

One of the gifts we can give our children is to model friendship. Unfortunately, in our too-busy world, the parents' friendships can be a low priority. We are sure to take our children to see their friends and to have playdates, but how often do we make OUR friendships a priority?

SuperDaddy has been best mates with Uncle D since grade school, that's over 25 years. Uncle D spends many weekends here, babysits our kids in a pinch, and has helped us out in numerous ways. When SuperDaddy is out of town, Uncle D calls or stops by to check on us, how cool is that!? SuperDaddy and Uncle D's friendship teaches our kids about loyalty and fun and to appreciate the differences in people. That's good stuff.

My bestie A and I don't get as much one-on-one time as we'd like. We each have hubbies and families to care for, and often see each other while taking all of the kids swimming or for an outing. We do talk on the phone most days, sometimes several times a day, and keep up with emails too. But after 15 years of friendship, she's a big part of my life. Our friendship teaches our children (hers and mine) about caring in action, thoughtfulness, and that friends are family too.

In writing this post, I'm hoping some of you will remember your friendships and maybe relish some time with your best mate. I'm reminding myself too, by the way...

Homeschool Co-op, the Best of Both Worlds

Several of you have asked about B's school situation. When deciding where to send him, we looked at the basic 3 options- public, private or homeschool. With SuperDaddy's crazy work schedule, we needed more flexibility than public school offers. Private school tuition for 2 children (B now, SJ in a couple of years- planning ahead as usual) was technically financially possible, but would have left our finances tight. With my son's wild, sensitive, creative nature, we did need some structure. Our good friends had sent their son to a Homeschool Co-op and it looked promising.
The Co-op we chose is a good match for our family, and it has worked beautifully. What it means is he goes to school 3 days a week and we teach at home 2 days a week. The school days are only 4 hours in the morning, still leaving afternoons free. The teacher sends the lesson plans home, so I just follow along when I teach-easy as pie! The school is a Co-operative, and that means that parents are required to work at the school 5 hrs per month. The school has been around for a while and is very well organized and structured, which I appreciate. The communication between school, teacher and parents is terrific. And the cost is 1/5 of what the private school we were considering costs.
For our family, it means that we can spend more time together. The kids can lounge around with Daddy on homeschool days. We can take off as a family after school and still have the whole afternoon. We can (haven't yet, but would love to!) take off for a long weekend and just do school whereever we are. Every weekend is a long weekend! The kids also still get to spend plenty of time with their grandparents, a huge bonus.
Another question often asked, "What do you do with SJ while you're teaching B?" Well, I bought her a few coloring books, workbooks, and jumbo crayons at Goodwill. I also downloaded and printed some favorite pages for her. I keep her workbooks and crayons with our other homeschool supplies, and only bring them out when it's time for school. She sits and colors and does worksheets happily the whole time. I don't make her sit there, but so far she's wanted to. I've noticed she's doing some actual learning too!
So for us, the Homeschool Co-operative is the best choice for our family. I don't begrudge anyone else's choices for their children, it just works for us. I'm thankful we each have the choice to make a good decision for our children.
And I'm happy to answer any other questions about the school, I'm just not getting very specific here in a public forum.

Opians Running

SJ and Mommy have been watching the Olympics and had fun cheering the Ethiopian track team on. While in the shower tonight, SJ set up her guys. "Mommy, look. Opians running!" Opians means Ethiopians, if you haven't already figured that out.
By the way, SJ has been home 4 months. She's fluent in English, loves to play jokes on her brother and has grown 4 inches since January! This girl is living up to her name, praise the Lord.