Proud to be Pedalling

We love hand-me downs!! JiaLi has just begun pedalling and she is so proud! The bike she is riding is one that was given to us from a neighbor who purchased it at a yard sale for 25 cents. Now, there are no brakes and if you pedal backward, the bike will actually move in a backward direction. But JiaLi loves it, and Edward enjoyed it prior to JiaLi. The helmet she is wearing is also from Edward--yes it is an alien helmet. She is not always thrilled about wearing it--she would much rather wear the flower one that Jenise has but that is just too big and when I tell her she can't ride unless she has a helmet, she is very willing. She cracks us up with the whole riding a bike thing. No matter who is walking by, even a stranger, she yells "look at me, I'm doing it". So proud!! Of course riding the red "bike"(bottom picture-she is pushing up the hill) down our semi-steep hilly driveway also provides a squeal:)

Glimpse of Our Weekend

Well, maybe I am sharing more than a glimpse but I can't help it. The first picture is the kids at the playgroup at our home on Friday morning. It was a hot day and the kids are cooling off with a flavor ice. Three kids were not able to make it. Joe was off on Friday, and he was able to attend the Memorial Program with me at Joseph's school. To avoid the parking situation, we decided to walk to the school. Edward and JiaLi enjoyed a ride in the double stroller. Of course, a snack was provided before we left:) We were unable to locate Joseph at first but when the program was done and the kids headed back to their classrooms(the program was outside), we finally saw Joseph in the last line. Jenise participated in a soccer tournament this weekend with some other girls her age level. She played two games Saturday and two games Sunday. Joe could not attend--se why in the next post but Mommy and JiaLi enjoyed watching. Jenise's favorite position is goalie--she's crazy!! Toward the end, I was thankful for the nearby trash barrel--JiaLi was entertained throwing things away--I made sure I gave her one thing at a time;) Yes, the girls on the team sprayed their hair red!

Glimpse Continued...

Back at home, we decided in the neighborhood to hold a big 5-year old party. We have 5 kids who are turning five on our road. Edward is our soon to be 5-year old:) we decided instead of holding a whole bunch of individual parties to hold one big party. We had a cookout, ice cream cake, and we rented a moonwalk. Because this weekend was a holiday weekend, we had the moonwalk till Tuesday morning. The first few pictures are in the moonwalk on Saturday. Luckily the party was still going after Jenise's games so the girls were able to play!! All night while we were getting ready for bed, JiaLi ranted and raved "I like the Moonwalk" with a big smile on her face. The soccer pictures in this post are from Jenise's game Sunday. You will notice JiaLi has her camera. That is because on Saturday she was trying to take the camera from Mommy:) In between games, the boys were able to enjoy a rootbeer:) Edward was out with a friend. Finally the pictures at the end are from Monday. JiaLi was singing using a block as a microphone. Sorry couldn't resist posting. Then the moonwalk and kiddie pool at the neighbors one last time and yes another cookout!

No More Early Intervention

Yesterday was JiaLi's last day working with the Early Intervention program. She has been receiving speech related services since last year. We have had someone coming to the home 1x per week and she was able to attend a group since October. We had to stop the group in April because of scheduling. She was first evaluated in December of 2005 when she first came home but I was not ready to start. I wanted JiaLi to adapt to home first. Come May 2006, I thought that JiaLi should be talking more and I called to have her evaluated again. She did have a delay in both her expressive and receptive languages at the time and qualified for services. Oh, if you all could hear her now. She is non-stop with her language skills. She had her annual assessment yesterday and is not even close to qualifying. She was way above age level--yeah:) We are so proud of her. We absolutely loved JiaLi's "teacher" Michelle (same name as Mommy). JiaLi refers to Michelle as "my teacher" and she has so enjoyed playing with Michelle and learning from Michelle each week. We are going to miss our sessions but we are happy JiaLi has made such great progress. In the pictures, JiaLi is holding up her gifts from her teacher. Butterfly stickers and FOAM!! So far we have opened the pink foam. JiaLi calls it play-doh and she loves it. Although I have been finding tiny pieces throughout the room where the kids use it and in their hair!!

Big Brother Danny

As you can see JiaLi absolutely adores her big brother. These pictures were taken one rainy day. Joe wasn't home and no cars were in the garage so they had wide open access. Danny had just returned from school--he's the first one home and we were waiting for Joseph and Jenise. Had to take a few pictures. Big brothers are just awesome:) Click on the picture and you'll see the expressions on the faces better:) TFL!

An Extra Special Day

What a day and what a weekend. Today was the Kidney Walk at the Franklin Park Zoo. Little did we know while we were getting ready and preparing that we would not only be walking in honor of Joseph's Godfather Gene(seen in the photo with Joseph) but also in honor of our sweet friend Molly. Gene and Sheri prepared these awesome t-shirts for the whole team(over 50 members) that said "the bean team stomps out kidney disease." We also wanted to do something to let Molly know we were thinking of her and last night(I found out Friday so this was the best I could do) I made these ladybug pins and each member of our family wore one. We were thinking of you Molly! We are saying constant prayers. I also added in some other photos just quick. JiaLi is trying to hop like a kangaroo. Edward has a pencil because there was a scavenger hunt which involved answering some questions about various animals--it was cool because the kids actually read the signs and paid attention to what they were reading. The gorilla was the favorite animal of the day. Finally a family photo which we never seem to get except at this walk but now we have an updated one:) A TRULY MEANINGFUL DAY.