Ball Handling Class

Our weekends have now been pretty much occupied by basketball and birthday parties. Danny's game are on Saturdays and Jenise's games are on Sundays. In our town, basketball starts in 2nd grade making the others too young. I was thrilled when one of the gym teachers in town offered a "Ball Handling" class for kids in Kindergarten and 1st grade. He offers it through the Community Program(same program JiaLi had the Music Class through back in the fall). The kids simulate different sports like soccer, basketball, tennis and so on. I have been taking the boys on Saturday mornings while Daddy stays with the others. This Saturday, Daddy had a meeting and could only take the older guys so I had JiaLi for company at the class. Of course, I finally brought my camera. Joseph is so serious in this class, while Edward is Mr. Layed Back and just goes along with the flow with a smile the whole time. He just cracks me up. Jiali was entertained by her Tinker Bell Crazy 8s game and her peanut butter and crackers snack. No photos of that. I didn't really take the greatest of pictures because I was trying to keep JiaLi off the gym floor!!

Girl Time

Well, probably not what you were all visualizing when I said we went "girl" shopping but believe me, in our family, this was a girls' day out! Jenise had two birthday parties last weekend and we wanted to get just a little something to go with one of the gifts that she got so we headed to Bath and Body Works. With all the after Christmas sales, we of course had to make some personal purchases. The girls were very happy with the flavor they found and as soon as we got in the car were asking to put some on. JiaLi immediately rolled up her pants to get some on her legs. With no boys around, I just had to say yes:) (even if boys were there, I would still say yes) Jenise is always thrilled to help JiaLi with things of this nature. It will be very interesting as they grow. JiaLi is already trying to get into Jenise's things i.e.nail polish! Since they weren't really dressed "girly" I thought I would share these photos. JiaLi was playing "Mom and Dad" with Jenise this Friday, and they for some reason had to get dressed up. I love this dress and would like to have her wear it at some point. But you know, I finally get the camera and what does she pick up but one of Joseph's tools. In the bottom picture, the blurred object is Joseph's hammer. She wanted to fix something. The girly moments are very short-lived in our house;) Thanks for all the comments on the video. Joe did that post:) He was teaching me how to use the video portion of our camera--wow is it ever easy!! And then he was showing me how to post a video to the blog--now that I know how to do it, I feel so silly!

Just Hanging Out

We filmed this last week before we got sick, (lot's of things got left behind when we were sick). This has so many of JiaLi's traights we just had to share... We hope you find it as amusing as we do, sorry it is kind of long, thanks for watching

Our Diet This Week--Popsicles

It all began last Thursday with Danny. He had a friend who was going to sleep over and they were playing and then it came time for dinner. Danny sat down at the table and could not even hold his head up and was all shades of grey. I felt him and he was on fire. To be official, I got a thermometer and he was 102.8. Danny is rarely sick. His friend went home and Dan went to bed. Danny was miserable the rest of the weekend but was better for school. Come Saturday, Edward began with complaints of a headache and he also had a fever. His resulted in also a stomach bug.(no details here) With the boys sick, Jenise had a birthday party Saturday evening and I took the girls girly shopping--I was so excited to post these. But Sunday came and Mommy got it. I gotta say, I know we are lucky that it was just a cold and that it is nothing serious and that we will get over it. I know there are poeple out there with much worse things. But this just knocked me out. I ended up with what Edward got and I was on my back for close to 3 days with the getting up where absolutely needed. Daddy got it Monday with the same result. JiaLi did get the fever for 1/2 a morning and fought through it. now though she just has those flushed cheeks and yucky cold. Joseph came down with it Monday night also. Jenise stayed healthy(I think because she had experienced it back in Dec.) Jenise is eating ice cream--she was the only one tolerating ice cream and we wanted to conserve our popsicles;) Happy and thankful to say we are now functioning. I can honestly say Thank God for popsicles!

At Play

This weekend the kids have an extra long weekend because the teachers have a professional day Friday. Tonight we are having company and some of the kids friends are sleeping over. So of course this morning, I needed to do that cleaning that does not always get done. While cleaning, JiaLi got out her cooking things and began cooking:) She just cracks me up because she is so serious about her play and really gets into the cooking. Of course, she can be a wiseguy too--here she is pretending to pour juice from her cup into whatever she was using. (something she is not supposed to do) She is showing her true "bedhead" here--but I still think she's cuter than ever:) O.k. now we are dressed and our errands are done. So what does JiaLi want to do before the kids get home. Play making coffee for Dunkin' Donuts:) Couldn't resist posting the last picture.

Snow Day-FINALLY

O.k. you are probably wondering why I say finally. With all the snow we have had, the kids have not been able to benefit because the snow has occurred either in the evening or on the weekend so that no school has been missed. Well, yesterday the snow occurred in the evening and went into the day so that the kids were home from school:) JiaLi was thrilled. When the kids were first out, they were digging in the snow with the intention of building walls/forts with the idea being to hide behind them for snowball fights. What can I say, my kids are not always lovey-dovey;) For some reason, Edward and Joseph team-up and Dan and Jenise team-up. Doesn't seem fair but they work well with each other. Well, when Daddy came out for a lunch break, then the real fun began. The boys decided to move to another area and continue building but Daddy built a high hill for momentum and then a pathway for the sleds. As you can see by Jenise it was great. Well, her first run went astray but in the next one she went flying. JiaLi has the benefit of being small enough to sled with Daddy. I'm not sure who had more fun but JiaLi's expression in the last photo says it all. I really wish I could capture her whole face but with all these layers to stay warm it's not easy;)

Pirates??

No, I don't encourage the use of swords. JiaLi went to Story Time at our local library last week and they read a pirate related story(actually more about taking a bath--very cute book). For the craft, they made a pirate hat and an eye patch. This worked out great for Edward--one for JiaLi and one for Edward. They did alternate but of course, Edward wore the pirate hat the remainder of the afternoon. The "swords" are actually part of a "drum" thing the kids got for Christmas from aunts and uncles but hey when the batteries die--it's always great to find some use. They knew if I saw them swinging the "swords" that I would take them. In our town, for Kindergarten, the kids can attend full day or half-day but of course to attend full day, you need to pay. Although it's not an outrageous fee, it's still money and with the adoption and other expenses, we opted to have Edward go the half-day. I have to confess, I am happy about the half-day deal because it gives JiaLi and Edward time with each other. When they are with each other without the older siblings around, they play so well together. They always crack us up:)

While Playing a Game...

This is just a random post, but we got together with friends over the weekend to talk about our trip to Florida in October. I am the party pooper in the group because I am worried about Jenise and Edward missing too much school so our stay is limited compared to the other couples. We have our dates set and now just need to decide where to stay. While we got together, the kids played. The older kids were playing checkers and left it out so the younger guys decided to play. While playing, JiaLi decided to get up and dance a little jig. (She likes to dance). Her friend was not too happy with her for getting up in the middle of the game and decided to go do something else. Lucky for her patient cousin Catherine moved in for the game:)