Daddy and Lei

Belated Halloween pics

I took the kids trick or treating and Lei was all about it ;-) He raced to each door and had impeccable manners, thanking each person when he left. Audrey's dress was a little long and we had it pinned up all over the place. Her shoes were a little high and at one point she fell down someones stairs but was still in one piece and ready for more. Rachel really enjoyed it but insisted that I visit each house with her and come to the door which I did proudly.

Leaf Hunting with my Posers

Our Homeschooling Journey has began

After having Audrey and Lei in public school for almost 3 months, it became abundantly clear to me that this was not God's plan for our family. It was a totally necessary move to keep our family sane during Lei's transition into our family and Rachel's adjustment to our new family dynamic, but It wasn't the right choice long term. I started out thinking about homeschooling next year, then thinking about homeschooling after Christmas, and then thinking "If I'm going to do this, why wait?". So, we became an official homeschooling family on Monday and I already know this was exactly what we were supposed to do. Audrey and Lei are rested, relaxed and totally into their school work. Neither of them expressed any real regret in not returning to school. Rachel seems to be thoroughly enjoying having her brother and sister around all the time and they are all getting along much better than I could have ever hoped for.

We have started out using Abeka's Phonics, Reading and Writing program and Saxon Math. We are using the reading list from Amblesideonline.com as well. We don't have a formal science or social studies program yet, but since this is Kindergarten, we didn't think this was critical in any way. For Bible we are just memorizing verses from the KJV now, but plan to either create our own curriculum or look into others soon. An FYI, I love Abeka phonics and so do the kids so far !
Saxon math seems well thought out, but the K5 version is too easy in my opinion and I think alot of kindergartners could start with Saxon Math 1 and do fine.

I'll post more as we go along, but I'm wore out tonight !

"I love you all of my days"

I rarely think to post some of the wonderful things the kids say to me, but this one is really special because it comes from Rachel. Over the past few days Rachel has told me on more than one occassion "Mommy, I love you all of my Days". It hasn't been that long ago, that Rachel didn't say "I love you" in any form whatsoever, but now she says it more than anyone else in the family and we are eating it up :-)

I am extremely happy to report that Ms. Rachel is making so many leaps and bounds since she turned 3 that I can't even keep track of them. She is becoming very social and just plain sweet towards other kids, mom and dad as well as her brother and sister (when they aren't attacking each other lol ;-)

Her speech is improving exponentially now and things she said just a couple of weeks ago that I didn't understand, I understand completely now.

Long story short, Ms. Rachel is doing awesome and she is just giving the whole family warm fuzzies :-) Just had to share ....

Lei's 6th Birthday

Lei turned 6 the end of October and the day after his surgery at Vanderbilt Children's hospital. Needless to say, we celebrated his birthday the weekend before his surgery. Lei was very excited to receive his first video game (Leapster) and a new basketball which he specifically requested. Lei is going to be a very successful athlete, mark my words ! He's been in gymnastics for just a couple of months now and he is amazing to watch. Here are some pics of his birthday party we gave him. Oops, also wanted to mention that Daddy made Lei's birthday cake and it was pretty cool ;-)

Rachel's 3rd Birthday !

Rachel's birthday was the end of September and I'm ashamed that I'm just now posting pictures, but we had a wonderful family birthday and she just loved every minute of it. I also brought strawberry cupcakes to her preschool class and we had a little happy birthday celebration there as well. The pictures speak for themselves. Our little munchkin just insn't that little anymore and she is full of big ideas ;-)

Audrey's 5th Birthday

Audrey's birthday party was at her grandma and grandpas house the day before we left to bring home Lei from China. We had a great turnout and lots of family were there. Audrey's birthdays are always memorable.